Articles by Jack M. Germain

E-commerce and m-commerce are transforming the economic landscape. Both markets were steadily growing before the pandemic. But since then, consumers have been fueling both types of commerce with a frenzy For instance, global e-commerce is expected to yield $6.5 trillion by 2023, growing at a 17.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). That rep...

Tapping into natural language understanding (NLU) technology as part of an overall approach to managing customer relations improves the experience that businesses provide to their customers In a 2020 study conducted by Cisco, 93 percent of participants agreed that technology is very important in creating a better customer experience. Brands already...

Bitdefender security researchers have uncovered a Romanian-based threat group active since at least last year targeting Linux-based machines with weak Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) credentials The researchers discovered the group was deploying Monero mining malware used to steal cryptocurrency. That malware also allows other kinds of attacks, accordi...

As if online vendors did not have enough changes to handle in this post-Covid marketing environment, the impending loss of third-party digital cookies will soon force the e-commerce advertising industry to shift its strategies fast Third-party cookies will soon be a thing of the past. Within the next two years, Google will completely stop selling w...

Lifetime Value, or LTV, is key to growing your business. Without it, you might as well turn off the lights and go home LTV is the total amount of money that a merchant receives from a customer's entire lifetime of association with a seller. Thus, if you have an e-commerce store and your average customer spends $200 per year for an average of three ...

Anyone with a stake in keeping ahead of cybersecurity assaults and enterprise network intrusions through an application programming interface (API) vulnerabilities can now tap into expert advisories and security reports Salt Security, on July 14, announced the launch of Salt Labs, a now-public forum for publishing research on API vulnerabilities. T...

A new e-commerce trend catching on as the pandemic stranglehold on consumer access to brick-and-mortar stores loosens is converging shopping with playing games as a source of entertainment One good example is startup Tophatter. This retail discovery marketplace where shoppers go to spend time, rather than to save time, is what its CEO Ashvin Kumar,...

Shouldn't you get paid when businesses use your personal information gleaned from the internet? How much is your personal data posted online worth to you? Would you register your personal data so that you get paid when companies track you and use your own data to target you for ads? That is precisely what Invisibly lets you do....

A better customer journey is the roadmap businesses need to meaningfully improve their customer experience Bloomfire in May published a report that shows 88 percent of companies are ill-equipped to handle customer expectations, which have continued to rise during the pandemic. Companies also face the operational obstacles of integrating customer kn...

This summer brings hefty changes to Google's search algorithm. Software developers and website operators need to think about how to keep their sites ranking on top. Failing to do so can have a devastating impact on finger traffic that ads and page clicks have on business results. Google went live earlier this summer with its new Core Web Vitals al...

One of the little-known marketing secrets on Amazon is how seller aggregate organizations drive product and seller buyouts These companies can greatly impact the broader market. On the surface, aggregate companies become what amounts to sub-stores within the marketplace....

The magnitude to which retail stores recover when consumers fully adjust to post-pandemic routines may well hinge on the shopping experiences they offer, whether online or in-person Despite U.S. storefronts reopening, e-commerce is still seeing a surge in sales. To maintain retail success in 2021, retailers will need to continue optimizing their di...

The Linux Foundation (LF), Amazon, and more than 20 other gaming companies hope to make open-source game playing more of a win-win technology for both developers and players LF on Tuesday announced an intent to form the Open 3D Foundation to accelerate developer collaboration on 3D games and simulation technology. The Foundation is a nonprofit orga...

Dealing with cybersecurity is an ongoing battle of wits and skills that often leaves IT professionals feeling like they are barely holding back the never-ending attacks of a giant whack-a-mole defensive game of chance Take the case of Microsoft and the infamous SolarWinds supply chain hack that was first reported last December. Its ramifications ar...

A global study of IT business leaders praised the growing merits of open-source software amid concerns that big tech supporters could undermine its open qualities and collaboration Perhaps one of the main takeaways is the optimism IT execs (82 percent) feel about the future of open source. But that praise comes with a dire warning. Three-quarters (...

Cancel culture and politics aside, one of the more brutal threats lurking in the shadows of the internet is the slander industry. All too often, unsuspecting people become victims of websites that promote slanderous, often unverified, information about individuals. This false and vilifying information lives on the internet forever and can sully an otherwise spotless reputation...

The software development industry is gearing up for post-pandemic activity. But developers will no doubt find that the race to release will likely fall flat if they do not consider meaningful metrics in their implementation The most important consideration for successful implementations and launches is using smart, accurate, and effective metrics, ...

Microsoft on Thursday unveiled Windows 11 as a redesigned computing platform that feels familiar but has numerous changed components. It offers new ways for users to create, learn, play, and connect with others globally Feeling familiar may take some adjusting, however. Windows 11 is built around a simplified user interface for productivity, creati...

Digital messaging plays an ever-increasing key role in business-to-consumer (B2C) selling as marketers face immense challenges in the post-Covid era in terms of messaging and customer data access, according to a survey from customer marketing platform provider MessageGears A key takeaway from the survey released in April is that B2C marketers are p...

The Linux Foundation on Tuesday announced the Open Voice Network, an open source association dedicated to advancing open standards that support the adoption of AI-enabled voice assistance systems Organizations are beginning to develop, design, and manage their own voice assistant systems that are independent of today's general-purpose voice platfor...