Debunqed

Category: Online Tools

  • Get Ahead With Tech

    Get Ahead With Tech

    Must-Have Software Tools for Small Businesses to Outpace the Competition in 2023

    In today’s fast-paced business landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for small businesses. Fortunately, a plethora of powerful software tools can empower you to streamline operations, boost productivity, and unlock growth opportunities. So, let’s dive into the nine software tools that your small business should consider incorporating into its arsenal in 2023.

    1. Communication & Collaboration

    Google Workspace offers a suite of collaboration tools including Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and more. It enables seamless communication, file sharing, and real-time collaboration, allowing your team to work efficiently and stay connected regardless of their location. Efficient collaboration and communication are vital for remote and hybrid work environments. In addition, platforms like Slack, Skype, or Microsoft Teams can further facilitate seamless teamwork and enhance productivity. It is always a good thing to have at least two depending on what your customers or stakeholders use as well.

    2. Accounting/Banking

    Efficient financial management is essential for your small business. This helps you monitor every expenditure and keep good records for easy tax filings. Utilize accounting and banking software like QuickBooks or Xero to streamline invoicing, expense tracking, and financial reporting. These tools simplify bookkeeping tasks, helping you make informed decisions and ensure financial stability. Bigger companies can use Microsoft Dynamics 365’s financial packages to manage their larger turnovers.

    3. Cybersecurity

    Don’t think just because you are a small business, you do not need adequate online security. One security breach can do a lot of (financial and reputational) damage and stop you from growing. Remember, bigger companies can afford to repair damaged brands/images. Protecting your business from online threats is, therefore, paramount. Acunetix by Invicti, a web protection software, offers robust security features, including vulnerability scanning and web application testing. Safeguard your business’s digital assets and customer data to gain trust among your clients.

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    4. Artificial Intelligence(AI)

    Enhance customer support and streamline communication with ChatGPT. This well-spoken-about AI-powered platform provides multiple language-based automated solutions like a chatbot that provides instant responses to common queries. This frees up your team’s time and delivers quick solutions to your customers’ questions. They even offer personalized assistance 24/7, ensuring customer satisfaction. Setting Chatbots up properly with the right prompts can help you automate almost anything else that requires not much ‘human interaction’.

    5. Project/Task Management

    They say failure to plan is planning to fail. To keep projects on track and teams aligned, project management software like Asana, Notion, or Trello is therefore indispensable. These tools help you organize tasks, assign responsibilities, track progress, and collaborate effectively, ensuring timely project completion. Depending on the level of technicality of the team you can even use more agile tools. Tools such as ClickUp, Miro, or Jira, are more suited for software development teams.

    6. Customer-Oriented

    Without them, your business ceases to exist so you need the best tools to engage with your customers, suppliers, and partners at all times. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, such as Pipedrive, Zoho, Freshworks or HubSpot, enable you to nurture leads, track customer interactions, and manage sales pipelines. With CRM tools, you can enhance customer engagement, improve conversion rates, and foster long-term customer relationships.

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    7. Social Media Management

    Most of your existing and potential customers spend a significant amount of hours online – sometimes just browsing aimlessly through TikTok or watching cat videos on Youtube. Twitter has recently even started ‘rationalizing’ the amount of engagement people can have on its platform in a bid to allow its servers to ‘cool off’ and prevent AI bots from running amok. A strong online presence is, therefore, crucial in today’s digital landscape. Utilize social media management tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts, monitor mentions, and analyze engagement. These tools simplify social media marketing, enabling you to reach a wider audience and drive your brand awareness.

    8. Email Marketing


    Despite the power of the above-mentioned social media ‘movement’, Email marketing still remains a powerful tool for nurturing your leads and driving conversions. Tools like Mailchimp or Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) provide user-friendly interfaces, automated campaigns, and in-depth analytics, helping you create targeted email campaigns and measure their effectiveness. Naturally you have to do a little work to find the right prospect, or else all these will end up in a spam folder never to be seen.

    9. Data Analytics

    Thanks to two of the world’s software giants, you can now easily harness the power of data with analytics tools like Google Analytics or Microsoft Power BI. These tools will help you to gain insights into customer behavior, and website performance, and create better-targeted marketing campaigns. Data-driven decision-making will enable you to optimize strategies, identify growth opportunities, and therefore gain a competitive edge. You can even further feed the data into AI tools (like ChatGPT) to further analyze and decipher the data in simpler ways to quickly understand. Naturally, you should only input ‘non-private’ or generic data for the “open-source” program to crunch.


    As a small business owner, leveraging the right software tools can be a game-changer in for you 2023. From streamlining operations to enhancing customer experiences, these top software tools will most certainly empower you to stay ahead of the competition. Embrace the digital revolution and equip your business with the tools necessary to drive efficiency, productivity, and growth.


    For more about some of the tools mentioned – get in touch for a free consultation!

  • Unleashing the Power of AI

    Unleashing the Power of AI

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed from a buzzword to a practical reality, revolutionizing numerous industries across the globe. With its ability to process vast amounts of data, learn from patterns, and make intelligent decisions, AI has become an invaluable tool for businesses seeking innovation, efficiency, and competitive advantage.

    In this brief, we will explore real-life use cases of AI, differentiate it from machine learning, AGI, and NLP, discuss potential job transformations, and shed light on the limitations and dangers that come with its implementation.

    The key to artificial intelligence has always been the representation

    Jeff Hawkins

    Defining AI, Machine Learning, AGI, and NLP:

    Before diving into the applications, it’s crucial to clarify the distinctions between AI, machine learning (ML), artificial general intelligence (AGI), and NLP. AI refers to the broader concept of machines imitating human intelligence, enabling them to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and natural language understanding.

    On the other hand, ML is a subset of AI that focuses on algorithms and statistical models that allow systems to learn from data without being explicitly programmed.

    AGI, often considered the next step beyond AI, represents machines with the ability to understand, learn, and apply knowledge across multiple domains, akin to human-like intelligence.

    There is, also a less-mentioned subfield of artificial intelligence that focuses on the interaction between computers and human language. This ‘system’ encompasses the ability of machines to understand, interpret, and generate natural language in a way that is meaningful and useful.

    Known as Natural Language Processing (NLP), it combines techniques from linguistics, computer science, and machine learning to enable computers to process, analyze, and respond to human language.

    Some applications of NLP:
    • Virtual Assistants: Virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Google Assistant utilize NLP to understand voice commands and respond appropriately. They can perform tasks like setting reminders, playing music, providing weather updates, and answering questions.
    • Sentiment Analysis: NLP techniques are used to analyze and determine the sentiment expressed in text, such as social media posts, customer reviews, or survey responses. This information is valuable for businesses to understand public opinion, customer satisfaction, track trends, and brand perception.
    • Language Translation: NLP is widely used in machine translation systems like Google Translate. These systems employ sophisticated algorithms to process input text in one language and generate the corresponding translation in another language.
    • Chatbots: NLP is essential in creating intelligent chatbots that can understand and respond to user queries. Chatbots are employed in various applications, including customer support, information retrieval, and virtual assistance.
    • Information Extraction: NLP techniques enable the extraction of structured information from unstructured text. This is particularly useful in fields such as data mining, knowledge management, and content analysis.
    • Spam Filtering: NLP plays a vital role in email spam filters by analyzing the content and language patterns to identify and block unwanted or malicious emails.
    • Voice Recognition: NLP powers voice recognition technology, allowing systems to convert spoken words into written text. This technology is used in applications like transcription services, voice assistants, and voice-controlled devices.
    • Medical Text Analysis: NLP is utilized in healthcare to analyze medical literature, patient records, and clinical notes. It helps in extracting valuable insights, automating administrative tasks, and supporting medical decision-making.
    • News Summarization: NLP algorithms can summarize large volumes of news articles or documents, providing users with concise and informative summaries.

    These are just a few examples of how NLP is applied in various domains. Its versatility and potential continue to grow as researchers and developers explore new ways to leverage human language for improved communication and understanding between humans and machines.

    Some Real-World AI Applications in Industry

    AI in Healthcare
    Courtesy of Pixabay

    Healthcare: AI is revolutionizing healthcare by enhancing diagnostics, personalized medicine, and patient care. Companies like Zebra Medical Vision utilize AI algorithms to analyze medical images, improving the early detection of diseases like cancer. AI-powered virtual assistants also assist doctors in accessing patient information quickly, reducing administrative burdens.

    AI in Manufacturing
    AI-Generated Factory. Courtesy of Pixabay

    Manufacturing: Smart factories are embracing AI to optimize production processes, quality control, and predictive maintenance. Companies like Siemens leverage AI algorithms to predict machine failures and prevent downtime, ensuring efficient and uninterrupted operations. AI-driven robots and cobots are streamlining repetitive tasks, improving productivity and employee safety.

    AI in Finance
    Courtesy of Pixabay

    Finance: AI is transforming the finance sector by automating manual tasks, detecting fraud, and improving investment decisions. For instance, PayPal utilizes AI to detect suspicious transactions and prevent fraud in real-time. Robo-advisors powered by AI algorithms analyze vast amounts of financial data to offer personalized investment recommendations to individuals.

    AI in Transportation
    Courtesy of Pixabay

    Transportation: The transportation industry is harnessing AI to enhance safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Self-driving vehicles leverage AI to perceive their surroundings and make real-time decisions, reducing accidents and traffic congestion. Ride-sharing platforms like Uber employ AI algorithms to optimize route planning, reduce waiting times, and enhance the overall customer experience.

    Apple Visio Pro
    Courtesy – Apple Inc

    Design/Entertainment: Overall, AI has significantly impacted the design and entertainment industries by providing new tools, enhancing creativity, improving user experiences, and streamlining various processes. The experiences can thus be enhanced and simplified in Generative Design, UX Design, Data Visualization, Game Development & Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) – the Metaverse particularly comes to mind here. Apple’s new ‘Vision Pro’ augmented reality headset is ‘the most advanced’ device to date.

    Job Transformations

    While AI promises immense benefits, there are concerns about job displacement. Routine, repetitive tasks are likely to be automated, leading to changes in the job market. However, AI also creates new opportunities by augmenting human capabilities. Instead of replacing jobs, AI has the potential to transform them, enabling us to focus on complex problem-solving, creativity, and empathy-driven tasks.

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    Limitations and Dangers

    As with any technology, AI has its limitations and potential risks. AI systems heavily rely on data quality, and biased or incomplete datasets can lead to inaccurate outcomes or reinforce societal biases. Ensuring ethical AI practices and addressing algorithmic bias is crucial. Moreover, AI lacks human-like common sense and reasoning abilities, making it prone to errors in unfamiliar situations. The ethical implications of AI, such as privacy concerns and potential misuse of personal data, also require careful consideration.

    Afterthoughts

    The practical and realistic use of AI has already begun reshaping various industries, unlocking new possibilities, and transforming how businesses operate. By embracing AI, organizations can streamline processes, improve decision-making, and unlock insights from massive amounts of data. However, it is essential to navigate the limitations, address ethical concerns, and ensure a human-centric approach to AI implementation.

  • That’s so Meta, Dude!

    That’s so Meta, Dude!

    The adage that whatever you see in science fiction, you will witness in reality, seems to ring true more than ever in the 21st century. In fact, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg is probably one of the biggest believers having bought the virtual reality company, Oculus as far back as 2014.

    Now, he and people from all walks of life are embracing the creation and adoption of a “Metaverse”. 

    But is this a buzz term or a new reality, and are the ultra-rich throwing money at it because they are trying to entertain themselves? Or is it because they actually want to ‘augment’ hundreds of millions of peoples’ senses of reality with beneficial technology? 

    Like many things in life, the truth isn’t black or white in this regard. While multi-dollar billionaires including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have looked to build cities in space that we can escape to when the world becomes overpopulated or uninhabitable, others are developing the ‘Metaverse’ as a complementary set of enhancements and parallel spaces for our lives on earth.   

    What is The Metaverse?

    Is the Metaverse more than just ‘sales speak’ for a bunch of sales-speak-for-tech companies? It has been bandied about throughout 2021 but Zuckerberg has been even more brazen, having announced at the end of October that Facebook would be rebranded as Meta. Rather cheeky!

    But what is this swanky new world we may soon be living, and maybe thriving in? I’ve been called Mr. Anderson for over 20 years, so it feels like a fitting time, with the release of the fourth Matrix movie, to ask: “What is the Metaverse(Matrix)?” 

    The Metaverse is a hypothesised iteration of the Internet, that supports persistent online 3-D virtual environments via conventional personal computing, as well as virtual & augmented reality headsets.

    Wikipedia

    It’s still being given a concrete definition but essentially it is an advanced version of the Internet wherein we can become immersed. You don’t just look at the Internet; you are ‘digitally immersed’ in it. Instead of just looking at a 3D object on your PC using a mouse to scroll up and down to see it from different angles, in the Metaverse your brain will convince you that you are in the same world as that object.

    Metaverses, in some limited form, were already present on platforms like VR-Chat or video games like Second Life. These suggest that we have been moving toward living in a Metaverse for years. But why should we care so much now about the Metaverse then?

    Why The Metaverse Matters

    The Metaverse has the potential to bring fulfilment, economic opportunity and equity to people. But, for this to happen, we would probably need a situation where a handful of companies – here’s looking at you Zuckerberg – are prevented from dominating it. The virtual world could overcome the shortcomings of the physical one which humanity has lived on for millennia. Digital environments could become actual places where people don’t only live; but also thrive.

    It is for these reasons that we believe Metaverses will be pervasive across our lives from a young age until our retirement.

    Images courtesy of the respective companies

    For example, the gaming platform, Roblox might be unknown to well, adults, but this 13-year-old platform is booming. Children and teenagers use this platform to play existing games together but also to create new games. It also sports a marketplace where users can sell those experiences and other products like online outfits and personalized avatars. Another incredibly popular online multiplayer game Fortnite is well poised to switch its huge user-base into ‘Metaversians’. Two upcoming multi-billion dollar gaming platforms built on Blockchain technologies are Decentraland and The Sandbox.

    The former made the news recently when a tech company bought a patch of virtual real estate in the Decentraland metaverse for 618,000 MANA (its native currency) – valued at $3.2 million.

    Virtual ‘land’ and other items (digital assets) in Decentraland are sold in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are a class of crypto assets. All of these are authenticated using a Smart Contract component of the blockchain.

    Play-to-earn is another incentive to getting onto the Metaverse. You will now be able to earn virtual tokens (with monetary value) while emersed in your favourite game. This no-brainer strategy has seen an explosion of Blockchain play-to-earn games in the last quarter of 2021.

    Other Use Cases

    Back in the “real working world” virtual productivity platforms are also growing as companies’ employees use MS Teams, Zoom and other platforms to be able to communicate easily and at any time.

    You will be able to now have online offices and attend online conferences in virtual conference centres while represented by avatars. No more suiting up or wasting time on perfect makeup! So, while one can’t stop people from spending time in a cyber world, we can, however, enhance their experiences using cutting-edge technology.

    The opportunities for business and revenue generation will not be limited. Simulations for building and engineering projects will make presentations almost real – without having to travel to the actual sites. Online gambling/shopping companies will also look to capitalise by offering virtual casinos and stores in the Metaverse.

    Marketing Spin-offs

    There are even talks that companies may sell apparel and clothing and are designing virtual versions thereof. Virtual shoes could become status symbols which is rather bizarre but perhaps fun for the nouveau riche. Joke if you want but brands like Gucci, Adidas, and Nike are prepping (with partnerships) to board the Metaverse for obvious marketing opportunities.

    People are rapidly immersing themselves in virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) worlds. Headsets are becoming more affordable and an assortment of AR/VR programmes are being written daily. These include entertainment programmes for PlayStation 5 as well as for pornography apps (another billion-dollar industry).

    Soon the Metaverse will become a tool that improves our lives and will go beyond being just an entertainment novelty.

    It doesn’t stop here. There is a little-known Metaverse company currently worth $2bn, that has made some major breakthroughs using Blockchain tech. They have actually created a device to scan entire people and objects to immerse them into the digital world.

    The ambitious project, MetaHero will be paying people a decent amount to have their avatars made and used in games from January 2022. Sounds absurd but perhaps you need to take a look yourselves.

    Final Word of Caution

    Bear in mind that the Metaverse may exacerbate problems faced by humans because of the Internet. We need a better grasp of managing data rights, data security, misinformation, the radicalisation of morally wrong ideas such as racism and vaccine hesitancy as well as platform power.

    Somebody needs to rein the likes of Facebook, um I mean Meta, in. We should not just allow the Metaverses to distract millions of us with a ‘wonderful’ cyber world.

  • Digital vulnerabilities

    Digital vulnerabilities

    Global security breaches are on the rise and no one or country is safe. The acceleration of certain technologies has been rapid since the pandemic engulfed the world last year. But unfortunately, we’ve also become slack in the process.

    Once again, it has become apparent just how ‘at-risk’ our data is.

    Data hacks have been frantic and are now getting major press attention. It’s hard to know who each unwanted visitor is in each case but fingers are being pointed in perhaps familiar directions.

    Russian invaders back at it again

    In fact, throughout June, Russians have been blamed for a slew of hacks around the world.

    Microsoft in late May said a wave of Russian cyber-attacks had targeted government agencies and human rights groups in 24 countries, mostly in the US.

    It claimed that around 3000 email accounts of more than 150 different organizations, some of them international, were attacked in just one week.

    Allegedly, the group responsible was the same one that carried out 2020’s SolarWinds attacks, which the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) was accused of orchestrating.

    But the Kremlin denied having any knowledge or anything to do with any cyber-attacks. It challenged Microsoft to how these attacks were linked to the European attacks.

    Nevertheless, authorities are now aggressively investigating cybercrime. In the first week of June, the US Justice Department recovered around $2.3m in cryptocurrency ransom money.

    Webscanner

    This was part of the funds paid by the Colonial Pipeline Company to Russian hackers in the most disruptive cyberattack on record in the country.

    The US deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said investigators had seized 63.7 Bitcoins which was paid by the company after its systems were hacked, leading to massive shortages of petrol along the US’s East Coast. The department said it founded and recaptured the majority of the ransom.

    The hackers are believed to be a group called DarkSide, whose menace caused a multi-day shutdown in certain petrol stations and a spike in gas prices.

    The attack made international news and prompted the US’s White House to encourage business executives to improve security measures to avoid future cyberattacks whatever their nature, ransomware or otherwise.

    The FBI said DarkSide had also disrupted operations at a meatpacking company. As no one tends to be spared in the spillover effects, it is always a good idea to protect your company’s digital assets as a preventative measure.

    Not so sophisticated

    The attackers rather proved to be quite ‘amatuerish’ because they sent the Bitcoins to an online platform to convert it to fiat money – and that is how they got nabbed. Server-hosted (Online) crypto exchanges are obliged to keep customer data for compliance and anti-money laundering practices. So while your Crypto digital wallet does not reveal your identity, pairing it with an exchange will link it to all the other particulars you needed to provide to use the exchange.

    As long as you need cash to pay for things you will always need to switch your crypto in some way or another – unless your recipient agreed to take payment in Crypto as well. Keeping your digital assets on a hard-wallet or on your hard-drive keeps them “off-the-grid”. But also means you can’t actually spend them.

    Although the initial cyberattack was a smart manuever, the attackers proved to be rookies at the robbing game in the end.

    On a positive note: the ability to retrieve Bitcoins actually reinforces the need for a Blockchain-based financial system. This made it easier for the authorities to track movements of the ‘ransom-paid’ Bitcoins.

    Cuban for a bruising

    But politicians aren’t the only people who are urging businesses, civil society organizations, and other groups to improve security systems and be cognisant of an often-dark future.

    US Dollar billionaire Mark Cuban has also called for stricter cryptocurrency regulations.

    The owner of the Dallas Mavericks who has been investing in trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum said the world was in dire need of regulation for the burgeoning decentralized finance (DeFi) space.

    —READ MORE ABOUT DEFI HERE —

    Cuban said in an interview with Bloomberg that there “should be regulation to define what a Stablecoin is” in order for DeFi to be reliable and to prevent total collapses in investments.

    This comes after he saw his investments in a particular Stablecoin ‘went to zero’. Cuban claimed he had been scammed.

    Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to an underlying asset, or currency – usually the US dollar. They are the earliest forms of DeFi and the largest Stablecoin, Tether, is currently worth more than $62bn.

    DeFi has helped the price of Ethereum, the blockchain on which most DeFi projects are built, to also soar. But they can be highly risky investments.

    Investors try to create arbitrage opportunities and liquidity between coins but such a scheme collapsed for Cuban.

    “There should be regulation to define what a stable coin is and what collateralization is acceptable,” he said.

    trade cryptos
    Buy, Stake, and Trade Cryptos

    Strong words of caution

    Cuban hasn’t revealed how much money he lost but told a fellow DeFi investor via Twitter that regulation must be implemented- and quickly.

    It had been suggested that Cuban was “rugged” which refers to when a project’s liquidity dries up and investors cannot withdraw their cash.

    Mark Cuban is alleged to have 60% of his crypto holdings in Bitcoin, 30% in Ethereum, and 10% held in other coins. He likes to experiment with new financial tech investments.

    He added further in a recent blog post that banks should be scared of unregulated DeFi technology.

    All crypto-based investments remain highly risky as the technology around them develops. But there certainly needs to be global laws to prevent people from losing hefty amounts of their wealth/investment. Cryptocurrency is without a doubt a very lucrative investment vehicle that could make you an overnight millionaire. But that also makes it a perfect vehicle for scammers to clone projects to make away with your hard-earned cash.

    You must, therefore, be extra vigilant and scrutinize offers for instant riches. But more so, you would be quite negligent these days to navigate the Internet without any form of cyber-protection.

  • Technology contained

    Technology contained

    Over the past decade container technology has become a popular method for packaging applications in an effective way. Some developers believe is better than that offered by virtual machines and other technologies.

    Container technology has been embraced by the big cloud computing providers including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google’s Cloud platform.


    Examples of the actual container software include the Apache Mesos, Docker, rkt (pronounced rocket), and Kubernetes.

    But what is container technology?

    Logically, it gets its name from shipping. Shipping containers standardize how goods are moved around. Goods get placed in steel shipping containers which can be picked up by cranes and fit into ships. They tend to have standard sizes.

    By standardizing the process and keeping the items together, your container can be moved as a unit and it costs less to do it this way.


    In computer terms, container technology is referred to as just a container: a method to package your applications so they can be run, with their dependencies, isolated from other processes.

    Container technology decreases the potential for problems when developers move programs from server to server before the program is in a state where it is saleable.

    When you use container technology to create an application, you can code everything using just one operating system and database. This makes the application quite easy to replicate as resources including memory and the central processing unit (CPU) are shared. This also makes your technology great for scaling and for working within the cloud.

    Out with the old…

    If you don’t use container technology, you can have a situation where a program runs well on one machine but has problems on your server. This common problem occurs when you move a program from a data server to a cloud server.

    Many issues can happen because of variations in machine environments. These include differences between your operating system, secure sockets layer libraries, storage, and network topology.

    So, computer container technology picks up all of your software and related parts which include dependencies, being libraries, binaries, and configuration files. They all get migrated as a unit, avoiding the differences between machines including operating system differences. This will also include underlying hardware that leads to incompatibilities and crashes.

    web scanner

    And, importantly, containers also facilitate the deployment of your software to your server. Advocates of using container technology say it is a much better tech to use than that which preceded it – virtual machines.

    In this case, one physical server would be used for multiple applications through visualization technology. Each virtual machine contains the entire operating system, as well as the application to run.

    The physical server then runs several virtual machines, each with its own operating system, with a single hypervisor emulation layer on top. By running several operating systems simultaneously, you incur a lot of overheads on your server as resources get used.

    …and in with the new

    Container technology allows your server to run a single operating system because each container can share that system.

    The parts of your operating system that are shared are read-only to not interfere with the other containers. Therefore, compared with virtual machines, containers require fewer resources of the server, and are much more efficient.

    You can pack many more containers onto a single server. Each virtual machine may require you to have gigabytes of storage. But each container running a similar program may only need megabytes.

    How do the containers operate?

    Containers are set up in an architecture known as a container cluster. Then, in a container cluster, there is a single cluster master, with the other related containers set as nodes, that are your multiple worker machines. The cluster master schedules the workloads for your nodes, and also to manage their lifecycle, and their upgrades.

    Containers allow programs to be broken down into smaller pieces, which are known as microservices.

    A major advantage of having a program as component microservices is that different teams can work on each of the containers separately as long as the interactions between the different containers are maintained. This facilitates faster software development.

    Containers are also flexible and can be orchestrated. Since the operating system would be already running your server, a container can be started and stopped in just a few seconds.

    Some containers within architecture can be turned on during peak demand, and turned down when not needed.
    The software can control this type of orchestration, and distribute the tasks among the container cluster.

    The way forward with the tech

    But is container technology overrated? Some people are concerned about the security around it.

    Because multiple containers share the same operating system, there are growing concerns that container technology is less secure than virtual machines. If there is a security flaw in your host kernel it will affect your multiple containers.

    Other software is being used to have more secure container technology. The use of isolated containers is, therefore, being constantly improved.

  • The Future Office Worker

    The Future Office Worker

    Aside from essential services personnel, millions of people are now working from home. The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted the growth of products to help the home office worker of today and tomorrow.

    Debunqed breaks down which cloud solutions to pay attention to and which to avoid while you adjust to a changing world of commerce.

    During the pandemic, one video conferencing service has exploded in popularity after years of trying on the wayside. This is the service operated by the NASDAQ-listed American group, Zoom.

    Zoom has become a service of choice especially for companies and staff which may have not used online conferencing before. This popularity has made the service a target and there are concerns around security and privacy issues.

    Before Zoom’s burst in interest, the most popular applications include Google’s Gsuite which offers online conferencing solution Meet, Microsoft 365 which includes competing conferencing solution Teams, and Slack.

    Slack which was formed in 2013 also offers chat services that multiple people can use at once in private groups and persistent chat rooms or channels, which are organized by topic as well as direct messaging.

    Zoom being hacked during quarantine might have made news headlines but it’s not the first time that technology services like these have been infiltrated by the wrong people.

    .
    web scanner

    Slack was hacked back in 2015. The data included email addresses, usernames, hashed passwords, and in some cases, phone numbers, and Skype IDs users had associated with their accounts. As a result, Slack added two-factor authentication to protect data in the future.

    Gsuite is the ‘OG’ of cloud-based business

    How does Gsuite work? G Suite which was founded in 2006 and was formerly known as Google Apps for Work is a suite of web applications created by Google for businesses. It’s still a decent offering 14 years later. A basic G Suite account gives you access to Gmail and 30GB of Google Drive storage per user.

    There are obviously Enterprise-level packages with beefed up security to match that offered by highly secured ‘on-premise‘ setups.

    The suite’s Meet service is a video conferencing app. It is the business-oriented version of Google’s Hangouts platform and is suitable for businesses of all sizes. The solution enables users to make video calls with up to 30 users per high-definition video meeting.

    Compared to other software, and due to familiarity and affiliation to Android Smartphones, G Suite is quick and easy to set up and use from the time you subscribe to it. It literally takes up to 15mins to start receiving emails and make video-calls!

    Still in the game

    Microsoft offers 365 which includes Teams. Teams is quickly becoming Zoom’s big competition. Several companies are using Teams for internal meetings and Zoom for external meetings. Microsoft gains its competitive edge from is strong data protection, GDPR, and comprehensive security measures. But others are slowly and sometimes painfully also having to jack theirs up.

    The crucial factor to Teams is that it is part of the Office 365 ecosystem. In this way, it can collaborate with different services offered by Office 365. Users gain access to several functions separated into four categories:

    MS Proplus

    Firstly, they have access to the main Teams application which lets them find and create channels to hold “on-the-spot meetings, have conversations and share files”. Secondly, they have access to a function called Meetings. You can plan, schedule, and track meetings.  This calendar syncs with Outlook, as an example of the deep Office 365 integration.

    Thirdly users have access to calls which includes VoIP calling as well as fourth, they have access to the Activity application. This application lets one access @mentions, unread messages, and replies.

    Other secure apps

    Then we have Signal, a very new addition to the saturated video calling and voice messaging application world. The non-profit organization, the Signal Foundation launched a stable version of Signal last month.

    Signal is a cross-platform encrypted messaging service. It’s an impressive entrant and it’s opensource too.

    It uses the Internet to send one-to-one and group messages. These may include text and audio files, voice notes, images and videos.

    It is also available through a mobile application that can also make one-to-one voice and video calls. We expect the Android version to become well-loved soon. It can operate as a replacement for the SMS app.

    Signal’s emphasis on messages being protected and voice and video calls being stable because of the push by hackers to infiltrate the plethora of online messaging and video applications coming online over the past few months since Covid-19 broke out.

    This will become more and more important in 2020 and beyond as working from home becomes more common.

    The German government has encouraged people to work from home offices beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. This call is gaining impetus after the country saw a rise in Covid-19 infections after it started to ease it is locked in marked ways.

    With so much choice around cloud-based solutions, it’s best to try a few for yourself and see what works for you. But don’t waste too much time. Many of them are free and you’d really want to just get on with whatever your business is.

    A key is to use strong passwords which you change regularly as well as other measures to protect yourself from hackers.

    Read more about how to make your online accounts safer.

    Find out more about online office collaboration tools on our resources page

  • Banking on Crypto

    Banking on Crypto

    The world is slowly realizing that it needs to rely less on old systems in order to manage its way out of financial crises. One of the oldest systems which saw the US dollar as the vehicular currency of the world may be slowly coming to an end.

    Enter the Bitcoin: the brainchild of cryptocurrency, a means of exchange that is less regulated and which is built on the Blockchain, a technology that is supposedly difficult to hack into.

    A quick recap for those of you not familiar with the tech: A Bitcoin is a computer file that can be stored in a ‘digital wallet’ app on your smartphone or computer. With this technology, every single transaction you make is recorded in a public list or publicly distributed ledger.

    This makes it easier for authorities to track and record your transactions but not you personally. We will not, however, get into the potential abuse of such anonymity in this article.

    Adoption

    We have been very slow to adopt new financial technologies for two reasons. First, there are many regulations that help maintain the US dollar as the vehicular currency, used by central banks and other financial institutions to secure assets. Second, many developers of the technology are hesitant to throw it upon us – yet.

    But this will change as the robustness and reliability of cryptocurrencies is proved study by study and case by case. One method is by using cryptology.

    Cryptology is used to protect your information from hackers. In fact, the protection of your data is more important than ever before. We have made our lives more public thanks to social media.

    While you may not mind so much if hackers get unauthorized access to your pictures and social media profiles, some information is actually valuable. This includes your banking details, birth certificate, licenses, and intellectual property.

    The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us all to work from home. Those employees of numerous companies are accessing commercial information using personal computers instead of office computers. But personal computers might lack anti-virus software, firewalls, and other security measures.

    Right now, cybercrime is costing companies at least $45bn a year worldwide.

    This is why now is cryptology’s time to shine. It will also be used to protect your online purchases made using cryptocurrencies instead of traditional money. It will help ensure that funds go from your bank account to a retailer’s quickly but securely.

    Using Crypto for daily activities

    Digital Cash

    Let’s face it, we are going to use Blockchain for shopping: Lamborghini already accepts purchases in Bitcoin. The concept might still be difficult for you to grasp, but they are still being developed and soon it will be near impossible to live without them.

    Read more about Distributed Applications ‘DApps’ here

    Gaming companies are already embracing cryptocurrencies. Fortnite, a popular online game, with more than 250-million players, allows you to buy in-game products using cryptocurrencies.

    Beyond regular shopping, you could soon buy a house using a cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology and the underlying distributed ledger technology is being used to increase transparency in real estate transactions using smart contracts.

    To reiterate the use case for Crypto, many countries like Germany are relaxing laws and giving licenses to allow ‘Crypto Banks’ to operate. This is one effort to ensure that your Cryptos are properly taxed when used for investment purposes.

    One such bank, Bitwala, allows you to purchase Bitcoins or Etheruem securely and quickly from a charges-free bank account which they provide.

    Your transactions are then documented so that you can seamlessly submit reports of the purchases to the local tax authorities (Finazamt) to avoid penalties. You can do this all directly from the Bitwala App.

    The blockchain and cryptocurrency are even being explored on national levels: China is allegedly creating its own national digital currency.

    The way forward

    Monetary systems will continue to be tested every day. Banks the world over are spending big bucks to protect themselves from hacks. But one day, a hacker could throw them into turmoil.

    When that happens, you might be unable to withdraw your money. A central bank’s database could be hacked making it difficult for it to work with other banks. In the meantime, alternatives to classic monetary systems need to be developed.

    Cryptocurrencies backed by cryptology could be a very strong alternative. There are also some valid cases for using Bitcoin as a global currency. This, however, will only become a reality if it shakes off its high trading volatility to become more stable.

    We live in a world where we need to be cognisant of our health and how viruses can spread easily and quickly like wildfire. It equally is imperative to realize that cyber attackers could get and infect our data just as swiftly. Using modern technologies can help prevent these intruders from creating a ‘digital security collapse’ pandemic.

  • 2019 in Tech

    2019 in Tech

    This year may have felt like it was dominated by political shenanigans, but technology also had its wild ride.

    The USA vs Huawei

    A story that has persisted throughout the year is the heat around Huawei in the US. The Americans have stopped Huawei phones from being sold in their country because they say the Chinese mobile phone maker has stolen technology from American companies and has spied on them.

    The tussle began in 2018 but kicked into gear in 2019. Nevertheless, some American companies and organisations are still doing business with Huawei despite the ban by US President Trump’s government.

    The President of Microsoft, Brad Smith, also wants to the US government to offer more evidence to back up its Huawei ban. 

    The core issue with Huawei has been around concerns with Huawei’s close relationship with the Chinese government and fears that its equipment could be used to spy on other countries and companies.

    Huawei has also hit back at US ‘bandwagon followers’ and recently threatened to boycott Germany’s Auto industry if the European powerhouse banned them from offering 5G (broadband) in the country.

    Not a great year for big tech

    Big technological companies like Facebook, Alphabet, Google and Uber have faced a barrage of probes in 2019 be it around anti-competitive behaviour, spying on customers or their staff abusing customers. We also haven’t seen many new companies graduate to super-size status.

    After a long drought of big-name tech IPO (initial public offerings), 2019 promised to be a banner year. A crop of highly anticipated, highly valued tech companies — with hot marquee names such as Lyft, Uber, Pinterest, and Slack listed on the public markets. The idea was to allow you to take a stake in their business.

    Their reception, however, was truly tough. These companies’ stocks have not gained momentum and being listed has attracted greater public scrutiny.

    The biggest disappointment, however, must be WeWork’s failed proposed listing and its subsequent business fallout.

    The hottest things in tech

    Artificial Intelligence (AI) – We’ve been talking about this for decades since Terminator came out but scientists are managing to harness the technology especially in manufacturing and medical fields.

    Most of the top tech companies (Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and Google) have already embraced AI. Many tout it as one of the main distinguishing features to set them apart competitively.

    A little of this tech has gone into robotics with much fanfare and fear over their capabilities and propensity to ‘initiate a judgement day’. Check out Boston Dynamics

    Bitcoin
    Bitcoin

    Blockchain – Bitcoin may be highly volatile and not the get rich quick scheme people thought it could be, but it is still out there. Clever people are finding ways of making commerce more efficient.

    There are however several practical and use-cases for Blockchain-based tokens and tech other than for payments and investments.

    Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – this is a technology that could explode in 2020. Right now, only large enterprises are using RPA but it could become more affordable and workable for smaller businesses in 2020. RPA is the process of automating mundane tasks such as taking data from one file and entering it into a business application like CRM software.

    It’s about computerizing repetitive tasks that are an inefficient use of time, so it makes our lives more efficient. 

    RPA is not a physical robot. It is also an approach to working across multiple business applications and entering, maintaining, migrating, integrating, mining and testing data on spreadsheets.

    These tasks are prone to human error which is why computerizing them makes so much sense.

    amazon web servies edge computing ad

     Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality – VR made strong progress in 2019. This was most useful in gaming, real estate companies, pornographic entertainment and for people with disabilities.

    For you gamers – it is best to buy an Oculus Quest for your PC. Sony’s VR headset is still the best and only gaming set.

    Look after my data – or not!

    The first fines around the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) were lodged in parts of the EU. The GDPR was promulgated in 2016. It is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individual citizens of the EU and the European Economic Area.

    It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. GDPR was enforced because of concerns about data breaches and attacks on privacy by the likes of Facebook and Google.

    Then there were concerns our banks, insurance, and other data keepers were selling or losing our data to dangerous entities.

    The types of personal data exposed included your names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and even passport numbers.

    Lessons learned

    The Marriott hotel group’s data breach of 2018 resulted in the exposure of 339-million customer records. Around 30-million of the records belonged to European Union citizens, and therefore they were subjected to a GDPR fine.

    Facebook seems to love controversy and had been found to have allowed a massive 247 million user (mostly Americans) data leak.

    Back home in Berlin, on October 30th the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information issued a €14.5m fine on a German real estate group, die Deutsche Wohnen SE. This was the highest German GDPR fine yet. The infraction related to the over retention of personal data.

    Despite the turbulent year for tech companies and consumers, we look to 2020 with breathless anticipation. We also ponder on which of the mentioned technologies will stick out and make a positive impact on our lives.

    Pictures courtesy of Pixabay

  • The startup tech kit

    The startup tech kit

    New business? You’re going to need some basic software!

    In this modern-day and age, it may seem that small businesses do not require a plethora of technological tools in order to succeed, but it’s worth investigating which technologies can give you an edge. This is especially crucial if you are not offering a niche product or service and have to compete with an army of existing players in your industry.

    Accounting, CRM, marketing, analytics, taxation and other useful software may have just levelled the playing field between small and big businesses. The challenge is to choose the right one to help you grow quickly at the least expense.

    You will, nevertheless, if you are even to make a first impression, need some basic software regardless of your trade.

     HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED 

    Almost everybody needs some kind of online presence. You’re a business and while social media is helpful (more on that later), a website is where you will be found by prospective clients or business partners. You can build one easily these days via a paid content manager provider such as WordPress or Wix.

    They will even provide and host your domain if you don’t have one.

    If you do not, however, have the time nor the energy to create one yourself, there are cost-effective alternatives such as outsourcing the building to a web-designer. They can do it remotely and the safest way  would be through a regulated marketplace such as Fiverr* or Upwork.

    *Debunqed can recommend a designer known as aceholder on Fiverr.

    Email

    You need to be contactable. In the old days, you got away with Yahoo or Google email but now you need an email service that can host a domain. The free emails are also not secure and subjected to heaps of spam.

    Email hosting is a service in which your email messages and associated files are all stored on a server. When you receive an email to your website’s domain address, that email is routed across the Internet and stored on the recipient server.

    A hosting service stores the files that make up a website on a data server which then uploads them directly to the web.

    This gives you an Internet connection and way for your customers to access the site through a domain name.

    Web hosting services often come with a slew of options for designing sites. These include the one-click installation of supported applications such as a service mailbox.  Wix partners with Microsoft’s Office 365 for mail hosting whilst WordPress works seamlessly with Gmail/GSuite.

    Task Management System/ Job Manager

    Being organised from the beginning isn’t a good idea; it’s a great idea! Get yourself a system which tracks your sales and logs the deliverables that each employee completes.

    There are an array of CRM solutions focusing on different tasks from customer services or sales to project management and full-on finance and back office (ERP) operations (more on this later).

    The key is to start small many of these offer trials but also some even offer a free package naturally with limited functionality. Figure out which tasks are important in order to choose the right package to handle your scheduling, sales and tasks. A simple calendar/scheduler via MS Outlook and Office 365 (Microsoft Bookings) can be a good place to start for a paid but fully functional service.

    Payroll and Accounting Systems

    You need to keep accurate books and not to rip off your employees. You’re a start-up; play the numbers by the books. And a word of caution: don’t ever cook the books!

    There is a huge choice of accounting (and back office) systems to choose from. The big names are probably out of reach so like a CRM system, you might want to shop around and start with smaller but a reputable brand like Quickbooks.

    But if you go for an Office 365 solution, you might as well look into something like Dynamics 365. One of their entry-level finance packages (Business Central) has all the ‘bells and whistles’ for a Startup to help get your books up to date for the taxman/audit.

    You also need to monitor your payroll – this service can be added by upgrading to a bigger package under Microsoft Dynamics family. You could also shop around for payroll software if you are on a tight budget.

    Project management and support logging system

    Once you build up a workable database of existing and potential clients, you will require some kind of logging system to handle customer queries.

    This will help you keep tags of what customers are having issues with. If they are repeated issues, then you know there is a recurring problem with your operations or an aspect of your business.

    A good ticketing system will allow you to keep a knowledge base with instructions to help your staff with how to deal with recurring issues quickly.

    Shopping cart software

    If your products are sold online or does not come from a physical store, this is the mandatory software that enables you sell goods online. It is designed to quickly process debit and credit cards transactions but also allows your customers to use their PayPal and other payment methods – even Cryptocurrency.

    A good shopping cart package also does inventory management, calculates packaging costs, shipping costs and taxes.

    Security and Anti-Virus software

    Always protect your Internet connection and your sensitive data against viruses, spyware, malware, worms and Trojans.

    Most of the packages mentioned before come with in-built security measures such as sign-in authentication.

    But these are not enough and you will need to source software to prevent a hack if you are dealing with extra sensitive data like patents, medical and financial records/accounts.  Read our feature on Online Threats for more on this.

    Cloud storage

    This is a place where you can store large files as well askeep backups of files. Hardware can break. You could drop your 2-terabyte portable flash drive but at least your work will be safe in the cloud. 

    Once in the cloud, things can get disorganised (many files and folders) and sorting them can become a pain. The top file storage providers include, Microsoft’s SharePoint Online and OneDrive; Google’s Drive, Amazon’s S- series and Dropbox.   

    There are some really great add-ons like a Digital Asset Management (DAM) tool for those dealing daily with tons of documents and images by Pic.io. This software works specifically with GoogleDrive.

    Social media

    We have by now affirmed that you need a CRM system. With many choices of companies to buy products from for example,  treating individual customers’ needs is very important.

    A good CRM system will help you reach out to your customers where ever they are – online or offline. This is known as Social Engagement.

    That, coupled with a powerful Business Intelligence tool, can help you leapfrog over your competitors with useful insights such as peak traffic times on your website, purchase habits and other characteristics of your client that will help you accurately predict potential revenues.

    Find the best CRM platform that allows for social engagement, then set up whatever social network accounts that suit your business.

    Webinar services

    Remember you are doing business with groups from around the world.

    Online communication tools, therefore, enable you conduct presentations and meetings over the Internet. This saves time and money associated with travelling costs whilst giving you access to markets outside your area, city or country.

    Some of the most popular/effective communication tools includes those included in the Microsoft (Skype and Teams) and Google (Hangouts & Voice) bundles. There are also free standalones like Zoom.

    Depending on your frequency of calls and audience size needs you can stick with the free version and then scale up to a paid subscription later.  You can also run training sessions and product demonstrations and even replace your whole phone system with them. 

    Online Surveys and other Marketing Tools

    Marketing is is the lifeblood of a company. It’s a key sales-driver and if you aren’t selling, you’re going out of business! Conduct market research using online tools such as SurveyMonkey and collect emails through opt-in forms. These valuable insights can be used  in targeted email marketing campaigns.

    The most advanced and widely recognised mail marketing tool is Mailchimp. It starts with a free version with 7 marketing channels and goes up to $299 per month for large companies with 200000-plus contacts. Most bundled Office solutions will allow you to add Mailchimp as a plug-in to your existing mailbox.

    Conclusion

    Technology constantly changes and it’s hard to keep up – so don’t. Get the basics right first and add technological services and tools as you grow. Rather understand what each button does first before you spend money on a whole super system.

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