Depending on your industry, you likely have a specialized set of applications for different lines of business (LOB). Engineering systems, an SQL database for a certain division, a clinical health record application – all are LOB applications which power business operations. The sum of the parts of LOB systems creates a unique technology environment which makes your business tick differently (and hopefully more competitively) than others.

Mobile technology has revolutionized how businesses operate and interact with customers. It influences every stage of the manufacturing process as well as the customer’s buying journey. With the proliferation of mobile devices and apps, billions of bytes of data are created each day that include countless videos and images, business transactions, geo-positioning information, and updates on social media. This data increasingly originates from and is consumed through mobile devices, leading to a year-over-year increase in mobile data traffic.

Manufacturing companies need to have processes running around-the-clock with the utmost precision. Often, manufacturing plants encounter linear failure; where a defect repeats until the end of the operating cycle, messing up the entire batch. Then, several micro level process failures remain unidentified until the last phase of production. How can you mitigate such a failure and ensure smooth process flow? This is where machine learning comes to the rescue – using artificial intelligence, you can continuously observe a series of actions performed over a period of time and devise new ways to carry out similar processes in a new and improved environment.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced it was acquiring LinkedIn, the social network for professionals with about 433 million users, for $26.2 billion. If you are a Dynamics CRM or Office 365 user, or operate in a Microsoft IT environment, there are many reasons why this news is an exciting development in our ever-changing technology-driven world.

Microsoft Project Professional 2016 enables you to organize tasks in a significant manner with Resource Management and Resource Capacity Planning. Irrespective of what type of project you manage, this cloud-based solution will always be cognizant of constantly evolving work. This newcomer brings an enhanced user interface, flexible timelines, and better resource scheduling, so you can have better control over your project and deliver it successfully, on time. Irrespective of where you are and which device you use, the new features and functionalities of Project Professional 2016 allow you to stay connected with your team, delivering projects effortlessly. You can share the latest status, conversation, and project timeline with better integration between Project and Office 365 providing an end-to-end optimized resource utilization experience.

You work hard to provide excellent customer service to increase customer satisfaction, drive loyalty, and retain lifetime customers. Getting to know your customers a little better can go a long way. It helps to build relationships and inculcate a sense of loyalty to your brand. Some companies are still trying to deliver customer service with multiple systems that are causing less than ideal customer service experiences.  According to Blake Morgan in her recent article in Forbes, “today agents are plagued with system overload.

There are many questions you must ask when preparing to choose a CRM software. Leadership must find a proper balance between stakeholders and departments in order to make sure priorities are accounted for and pressing needs are met. You may even question the efficacy of investing in a CRM system, especially if your business has seemingly been “doing fine” without one. However, research by Kate Leggett at Forrester demonstrates the true potential of CRM software. ROI for CRM software is so compelling that the majority of organizations now make them their central customer portal. Furthermore, CRM software improves customer experiences and increases customer loyalty – a feat that many businesses struggle to achieve. That being said, regardless of the reasons behind investing in a CRM, there are numerous considerations to take into account before deciding on a specific CRM system.

Globalization has led to a surge in the number of remote workers across a variety of industries. As more employees work from field locations, around-the-clock connectivity and access to business critical information is becoming all the more essential to carry out tasks to make crucial, data-driven decisions. While mobile solutions help enterprises stay connected with their on-site sales teams, there is always the problem of low or no connectivity in extremely remote locations. Such a situation impedes business processes, restricting remote employees from efficiently doing their jobs and completing tasks.

CRM has transformed the way people interact with businesses; communication has become more intelligent and has enabled customers to have richer interactions with brands. Customer service is now a key brand differentiator and lies at the epicenter of every company’s core strategy. Many customers today prefer to resolve product and service issues on their own, through self-service portals, making meeting customer demands more challenging than ever. So, it has become imperative that customer service agents are equipped with the best tools and technology that enable quick resolution of complex issues and foster customer satisfaction.

Technology has made great strides in addressing the challenges faced by remote workers. Information access and sharing, document management and control, and analysis and reporting through the use of mobile technology has enabled organizations to augment their business process efficiency. According to IDC, the number of enterprise applications optimized for mobility will quadruple by 2016, signifying their rampant adoption. By incorporating mobile software, required information is made more readily available to mobile workers, augmenting their productivity while ensuring security and governance.