The role of chatbots

The digital trends show steady growth in the realm of using chatbots in e-commerce, banking, customer support. Chatbots helps in reducing human errors and increasing more customer engagements. Chatbots are gaining more popularity than ever and they are totally bringing new ways of how businesses run marketing. They have become the latest addition to every marketer’s bag of strategies as being an early adopter can give you major advantages from customer support to lead generation.

There are two types of existing chatbots:

- AI-based bots
- Fixed bots or multiple-choice bots

Bots work for you all day every day – starting conversations, asking questions, and delivering qualified leads when they're live on your site.

Chatbots connect to your tech stack, automate workflows behind the scenes, and act as extensions of your sales and support teams.

Custom Bots ask the right questions to automatically prioritize and route new conversations for more efficient support.

Benefits of chatbots

• Proactive Customer Interaction
• Better Lead Generation
• Cost Saving
• Keeping up with the trend

I agree, to some extent, chatbots are confusing and time-consuming until you use the right keywords. People tend to keep the conversation simple and short. The enhanced chatbots would find newer heights in the coming days.

This decade will pave the way for more technological advancements.

Life is Good. Life as an Entrepreneur is More Awesome.

• No sabbaticals.
• No sick leaves
• No structured timings
• No time for family
• No time for friends
• And last but not the least - the financial crunches

- That's all about " Entrepreneurship"

 But above all, its a sweet pain that lets you sail ahead towards success. Once you happened to enjoy and quench the extracts of entrepreneurship you would be one of the "Awesome" being on the earth. And the image below is dedicated to all the Awesome Entrepreneurs out there.

As entrepreneurs, we all follow our own path. For some, the rise to financial success is a long, slow, painful process. For others, things just seem to magically fall into place. I believe that the latter isn’t a result of magic, however, but is the sure sign of an entrepreneur who understands the importance of learning from, adapting to and growing with their business.

Undoubtedly, as an entrepreneur, you’re going to get a lot of advice from a multitude of sources—friends, partners, mentors, and investors—about what it takes to run a business. Some of it will be useful and some of it won’t. Knowing who and what to listen to can be tricky not to mention overwhelming.

I know I'm too immature to pen down my views but I would like to share some of the lessons I learned from my journey of Entrepreneurship:


1. Time is Money. 

Money, customers, ideas: all resources you can potentially gain more of. Time, however, is the one commodity you’ll always have a finite amount of.

3. Embrace what makes you unique.

Many young entrepreneurs waste time trying to be like someone they look up to. They conclude the key to their success is copying another successful entrepreneur. It’s not. When someone wants to do business, they will hire or buy from the original, not the clone.

People want to connect with you. They want to hear what you have to say and see how you can make a difference in their life. Embrace what makes you an entrepreneur. Dig deep and be honest. Just because a strategy or tactic worked for someone else rarely assures it will work for you.

4. Hire people who are smarter than you. 

Face it: There will always be people who are smarter than you. If you’re lucky enough to find these people, hire them. Focus on the things that you’re best at, and give them the freedom to do the same.

5. Be happy with nothing.

Expect the least and the unexpected. The caption says it all and does not require much explanation.

6. Work is life, and life’s too short for spending life with family

Have time to spend with your family. Work-life and personal life balance is something many entrepreneurs struggle with. But at some point of life, we really regret for the precious moments.

7. Find time for yourself

Whether it be a sport, or a dance, or simply a travel - Take some time out for it. At the end of the day it matters a lot how happy you are in your personal life.

8. Feel your fears but embrace them

The feeling of fear would dominate in yourself stopping you to do things which has to be done. The best way is to feel the fear and embrace it and move ahead. Elite athletes feel fear just like everyone else, but they channel that fear to fuel their spirit and passion for competition

9. Be confident enough to accept your faults.

No person is perfect, and everyone has faults, no matter how successful or unsuccessful they may be. Don’t waste your time trying to cover up your faults. Instead, accept them, face reality and do your best to work around these faults. There is no greater sign of confidence than self-acceptance.

Tail-Piece

There are hell lot of value points to be added. But my knowledge and experience limits me to this much. 

"BRANDING" the right way

In the early 1900’s Coca-Cola started bottling the beverage with little consideration for consistency among bottles and packaging. This proved to a problem when imitators started bottling soon after. As a response, the Coca-Cola company, created it’s signature curved bottle and classic branding that we still recognize today. Following this, in the late 70’s the brand created a strategy around the idea that Coke = Happiness. A message that still plays in their messages today.

The Coca-Cola company learned the hard way that a preemptive strategy, supported by a well-designed process was important to creating a brand that stands out. A brand discovery or exploration process can bring many different ideas to light.

And while we are sure you have heard many of these terms before, it’s important to understand the process and thought behind each step. Quoting these examples, lets examine the various aspects of branding. When creating a new brand or re-branding an existing brand, it is important that the steps you take are simple and logical.

A strong brand requires thought, strategy, research, and most importantly – planning. When you can identify who your company is, what you are trying to say, and who your target market is, you have done the groundwork for creating a successful brand.

The Main Aspect

Before you begin, ask yourself some key questions about the brand you want to create.

• Who is your target audience? (Think of age groups, genders, and traits)
• What will set your brand apart from others?
• What is your competition doing successfully?
• What will keep your customers coming back for more?
• How do you want to come off to the public?

Most people think of branding as simply “the logo,” but a logo is just the beginning of a brand’s visual aspect (which also includes the website, marketing materials, and ad copy — which in turn includes tag lines, marketing/PR/sales copy, and advertisements).

The other side of the coin:

Here are ten tips to help you discern if a branding has what it takes to best represent your business.

1. Customer-focus

Your “likes” are not necessarily your customers.So it’s important to answer critical questions: Who are they? Does it speak to their interests or needs?

2.  Relevancy

Does it reveal something about the nature of our company, service, or product? Is it descriptive?

3. Distinctiveness

 It’s more important to be different within your competitors (industry, category, or geographic region) than the brand universe at large.

4. Memorability

Anything that engages a viewer’s brain and makes them think about it typically improves recall, as long as the “a-ha” is relatively accessible and relevant (see #2 above). This memorability will likely be a combination of the logo mark, the name, the typography, and the color scheme, rather than one single element.

5. Adaptability

Your logo should be easily adaptable. Keeping in mind these questions: Will it work in black-and-white (or screen printing, or embossing, or sand-blasting) as well as it does in color? Can it scale up effectively to billboard size? How about down to the side of a promotional pen?

6.Depth of Meaning

 The ultimate goal is for a logo to have a common, clear, and unifying interpretation, but also additional layers of meaning or symbolism that emerge over time as people experience the brand or see repetition of the logo.

And now, why us - Anabytes?

We deal in a pattern language with logo symbolism, form, typography, and color where it’s nearly impossible to be “totally original,” though we constantly try to develop new takes on, and interpretations of, meaningful ideas.

In order to align your branding strategy with your organizational objectives, we devise future-looking strategies, execute various branding exercises, and regularly analyze performance through research and surveying.

If you are not located locally that is okay too. We are extremely confortable communicating via phone, email, im and through other virtual meeting technologies. We have a few global clients that this works very well for.

No matter were our clients are located, we offer a wide variety of services that include identity design, website design and development, Social Media Optimization (SMO) and search engine optimization (SEO).

My Husband Made Me a Prostitute

EMOTIONAL BLACKOUT

I happened to see this video a few minutes ago and the impact it made on me was intense and deeper. Such a powerful message conveyed in a simpler but in the most powerful manner ever. I recommend you to watch this 3-minute video:

You wont know the deeper meaning or inner aspects of this until you truly have that 'Very special person' in your life. The feelings of love, caring, sharing and mostly that 'Depended' feeling. Let it be grandparents, parents, your relatives, friends, cousins, girlfriends, boyfriends, your life partner, children, neighbors, peer groups or anyone. But I'm very sure you would be bound with anyone or anything in this world which marks the special reason for your existence.

One bad decision will leave you nowhere. It’s not just an individual who suffers when you drink and drive, but along with him, his loved ones suffer more and die every day. Why is it that when we know something is wrong, we still we go ahead and do it?

Every form of refuge has its price. While you shelter yourself under flowing veil of cheap or expensive alcohol, you aren't the only one paying its price. Your family, your children, your friends or probably an unknown stranger driving home to his son’s birthday could be the one paying its price.

On the other side, there are haters who opposes the video with their pity thoughts that Indian women don't have to work as a prostitute if her husband is met with an accident. Rather than criticizing, try to get the good aspects and message of the video. This is not really a Women-empowerment video in any sense.

The short film finishes with the message: "It’s your family who’ll pay the price. Don’t drink and drive."

Let us appreciate  Indian charity Mission Sharing Knowledge. and director Pankaj Thakur who conveyed the powerful message in the most simpler manner.

Every single injury and death caused by drunk driving is totally preventable. Although the proportion of crashes that are alcohol-related has dropped dramatically in recent decades, there are still far too many such preventable accidents. Unfortunately, in spite of great progress, alcohol-impaired driving remains a serious national problem that tragically effects many victims annually.

It's easy to forget that dry statistics represent real people and real lives. Therefore, I dedicate this moment to all those closed ones who are still bearing the aftermaths of 'Drinking and Driving'.

(Apologizes for the Caption which redirected you to read this)

A special note

With atmost emotional imbalance, I'm writing this blog. Its actually a mixture of emotions and feelings that I'm experiencing now. A 'NEW' office from pure 'Scratch'.

There were many instances where I could see nothing forward other than pure blankness. Tears rolled out even at clients doorsteps and roadsides, but we never gave up. The emotions, tortures, teases from friends, relatives in one way or the other motivated us rather than putting us down. There were many reminiscent moments which I can sadly remember. Of course, do I remember many sympathetic faces and smiles having the hidden feeling that I took the wrong path.

From Google searches from Inspirational Quotes, Branding quotes, and Success quotes , I slowly could see the emotional drift of putting myself in low pace searching Failure quotes, and depressed quotes. Again, there was a pain inside us. We were not ready to give up at any cost. Things were not at all easy but the spark was still there and it made us go.

In the competitive world of advertisement, it was really hard for us to survive especially when being a young woman entrepreneur. Clients and managers were not ready to take risks upon us because we got the usual excuses that they deal with ad agencies of 10 years and above. The point what we tried to understand or persuade ourselves is that it needs time to gain experience and years of excellence. We started believing in "Waiting for that moment".

We were ready to kickstart our works with meager amounts but only on the grounds that we deliver best and quality services adhering to deadlines. And that indeed paved us a way.We started to get small-small works and gradually see transformation. Memebres grew, clients grew, business expansions, investor plans, meetings, mentoring, opportunities, recognitions everything just fell for us.

It took us one years time to land in safely. Starting out with just two laptops and dongle, Anabytes grew and is still growing beyond boundaries. All we had was just a few branding thoughts, a flair to write and a mind of keen observation. When I was resigning my job in Chennai, I never had the re-thought that things would be hard enough. Youth temptations and dynamic thoughts urged me to move ahead no matter who all and what all turns against you.

I have immense pleasure to see Anabytes flourishing beyond boundaries which started off with a two-men army. It was purely a "Do or Die" situation for us and there was absolutely no looking back to this point. Somehow we were fortunate enough to get a few clients with smaller works and eventually picking momentum. At this genre, I would personally and officially thank all the Anabytical people who had contributed and still contributing to the growth of Anabytes without which we wouldn't be in a position like this today.

Some Happy Moments

Anabytes have now changed to a new office here in Cochin, near Kalyan Silks and we do have business operations in Aylesbury, UK. The happy faces of Anabytes employees, satisfied customers, late night works, team-outing, and even thoses stresses and frustrations gives immense joy these days.

The spirit of friendship and fraternity spans the four corners of the anabytes' thought consortium (because we don't like to call it a work place), and the result of this is quality work delivered on time. United we stand as one voice and a unified thought receptacle, and we call ourselves 'The Anabytical People'.

What is ANABYTES?

Anabytes is the premier provider of branding, strategy, and design for professional services firms. We believe in using aggressive strategy, savvy marketing, and cutting-edge thinking. Our design is powered by business thinking, and our strategy is fueled by our clients’ objectives.

Our approach to unlocking growth is built on three fundamentals:

• Uncovering deeper insights
• Building stronger brand relevance
• Delivering engaging customer experiences

And we are able to drive impact by bridging the gap between strategy and execution by integrating a full range of growth enabling capabilities like marketing, innovation, digital, and design, and using our deep analytic skills to make the connections between consumer behavior and business demand.

Our diverse team allows us to see opportunities differently and break down silos to deliver unique solutions. We are a unique blend of best-in-class thinkers, creators and practitioners. We all look at the world differently, but we share common traits: We are curious, collaborative and optimistic, but also pragmatic. And our global presence means we can bring the best team to meet your challenge.

Our hybrid team works to build brand value and distinction. We push the boundaries of marketing channels, creating engaging experiences online and offline. We execute with insight-driven creative excellence that transforms touch points into measurable results.

What we do?

Some of our prenium clients take us as Digital partners and some go for short-term relationship. The remainder of our services run the gamut—from traditional marketing to the newest of new media. Many clients engage us to provide all of our offerings as a single, holistic package. Others engage with us on a project basis. These are some of our products which we excel at:

• Brand™ Development
• Company and Product Naming
• Brand Voice and Messaging
• Corporate Identity Standards
• Website Design + Content Management Systems
• Social Media Optimization
• Search Engine Optimization
• Mobile and Web Apps

What makes us UNIQUE?

Our strategy is simple, but not simplistic. We'll make every acquisition count and talk for your brand. We'll walk with you through thick-n-thin because we believe in building life-long relationships, trust and loyalty.

Tale-piece

After moving 2 times in 14 months, we finally arrived at our new permanent home on Manchu Complex, near Kalyan Silks. You can find us on the 2nd floor of Manchu Complex, on the PT Usha Lane, MG Road. If you’re in the neighborhood, we welcome you to stop by for a tour, a cold drink, and a great view of Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument of Anabytes!

The Death of Conversations

We can seriously watch technology interpreting our lives drastically. Its all about a fad - the selfies, tweets, facebook posts, instagram, quora, linkedin, mobile apps and much more.

 I don’t have a problem with portable tech specifically, because our devices facilitate our lives, but I believe it is making people seriously dull (including me b'coz I carry the very big "Samsung Tab II") But I seriously felt that there is a paradigm shift in the social and personal life of people all round the world.

I started observing people in company on their phones on public places, offices, meeting, social gatherings. Before mobile phones were invented, people would have had no choice but to interact. However, that is no longer necessary as we can all now “pretend” we are doing something “important” on our devices rather than think of something to say. This is killing conversation. I believe it’s increasing social pain and lesser connectivity among people.

The Internet actually detracts from the communication abilities of society, especially the young. When our communication skills are gradually lessened, we begin “spending less time talking to families, experiencing more daily stress, and feeling more lonely and depressed,” writes Affonso. In our formative teen years, lack of personal communication due to excessive Internet usage can have an overall negative effect on mental and physical health. Communication skills are critical for everyone, yet use of the Internet is undermining this development.

Society must be able to utilize technology while not allowing it to impede social interactions, particularly for those who are easily influenced during our formative years. Our world must learn to embrace technology without allowing it to negatively impact the creation of functional adults in society.

Lets release ourselves from the shackles of smartphones and bring face-to-face chat back! I seriously wish there could be more social gatherings and real-time face-to-face conversations.

Laishram Sarita Devi: Pride or Modesty?

Laishram Sarita Devi burst out in emotions in the presence of thousands of people and wordly countries. Real tears from a real fighter.  This was mere helpness not of a woman, but of a nation. A deep feeling of humilty, poverty and irresponsibity of the nation and its sports council is evident here. If Laishram Sarita Devi was born in any other nation, she would not have faced this problem because their countries and officials would be there to support her.

Fighters train their whole lives to never make an emotional decision, to always stay calm and rational. They have to; otherwise they lose—best case scenario—or far worse. She holded on to her best. And at last, ended up in emotions. We cant trail her as a very emotional person mainly because she came up to this heights after so much sufferings. Sarita Devi was born in a poor agricultural family as the sixth of seven siblings. She used to spend her time helping her parents in collecting firewood and in the fields, which helped her build the stamina she has today.[3] Sarita completed her high school in Waithou Mapal High School till the eighth standard and then went to Bal Baidya Mandir, Thoubal to complete her matriculation. She then went to an open-school to complete her twelfth standard to cope with the busy boxing schedule. So failure or negative sides of life is never new to her.

Its not the matter of victory or medal,but a clear-cut case of denial of justice. Without the country's support, she managed to borrow the appeal amount from a journalist and go for the appeal. This shows the under-developed state and suppression

For those that don’t know what happened, she refused to accept her medal while standing on the bronze podium, then she took it in her hand, and during the Chinese Anthem (the gold went to Chinese fighter, Junhau Yin), walked over to Park and put it around her neck. Later, after the medal had been thrust back upon her, she left it on a table when leaving from the prize ceremony.

Before the ceremony, she had appealed the decision. The IOA (Indian Olympic Association, a group of bureaucrats that are supposed to  understand sports and look after our elite when on international tours, among other things) did not support her in the slightest. She borrowed money from a kind Indian journalist and put in whatever she had (the appeal costs $500, if you can believe that) and appealed. I have absolutely no idea what the appeal process is even about, because the appellate board then informed her that they could not reverse the judges’ decision. And they kept the $500 too!

That many of the events were fixed to give the hosts South Korea an advantage is obvious, so let’s get that out of the way first. If this incident wasn’t enough, Tugstsogt Nyambayar of Mongolia also got cheated out of his victory against South Korean Ham Sang-Myeong in the men’s bantamweight division and Devendro Singh Laishram beat the living daylights out of (again) South Korea's Shin Jong-Hun—to a point where it looked like Jong-Hun was about to concede defeat in the 4th round when the bell rang (Laishram had controlled all 4 rounds with panache) but was still handed a loss by the (not so) subtle judges.

Devendro Laishram took it lying down because Rajiv Mehta, the IOA General Secretary, again did absolutely nothing.

Shame on us as a nation for allowing nonsensical organizations such as the current IOA to represent us on the international stage, or even just exist!

Raise up nation. Do something for her. Rather than mere publicity stunts like Clean India or Make in India, make some progress for the unprivileged and the people who represents our country.