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Serverless Computing Explained Why You Should Take

The adoption of cloud-based technology by the business world has been widely beneficial for both companies and customers alike. The advantages are numerous, from the many resources they provide to the pay-per-use payment model that can save businesses thousands a year.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for developers and system designers. Being used to overprovisioning when dealing with an increase in service requests, a large gap between provisioning virtual machines and the CPU/memory emerged for a time in data centers.

Purchasing, setting up, and running a personal server system for your business, is a costly and time-consuming endeavor, especially for a small company. Thankfully, that is where serverless computing comes into play.

What is Serverless Computing?

While not literally “serverless,” as there is still physical hardware involved, it takes a load off your back by having the actual server handled by a third-party service provider. Back in the day, developers had to plan in advance for how much storage and memory would be used when designing applications, needlessly slowing down the coding process. Now with serverless computing, they can focus on the critical aspects of their programs while E-commerce web solutions like Amazon Web Services or Azure handle the infrastructure.

Why Choose Amazon Web Services?

While this all sounds great for your business, there’s naturally a bit more going on that you have to take into consideration. That’s why it is a great choice to go with a service like Amazon Web Services to help you set up your business for serverless computing. AWS will manage the details of the infrastructure, like server capacity and updating, your business can focus on creating code and helping your customers.

If you are a smaller to mid-sized business, the pay-per-use subscription system Amazon utilizes will also save you a significant amount of money in the long run. After all, if you are running a handful of programs at certain times, you only should pay for what you need.

An Amazon Web Service Partner like Katalyst Technologies can talk with you to see if AWS would be a good fit for you and how they can help ease your workload.

The Amazon Lambda Difference

One of the most notable services you’ll need for your serverless computing setup is Amazon Lambda. Much like described above, Lambda allows developers to create an application send it to the AWS service where it performs the task it was designed for, all without you having to worry about RAM and CPU usage on your end.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/serverless-computing-explained-why-you-should-take-your-programs-to-aws/

 
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Enhance Your Manufacturing Process With Artificial

With the manufacturing industry digitizing a large number of their processes, a constant flow of data is continually bouncing between every computer and machine on your factory floor. However, with all this information going back and forth, issues are bound to occur. Devices will fail, computers will get the wrong data, and products will often be defective if these processes are not regulated.

Realizing the pandemic is an opportunity to grow stronger, manufacturers are doubling down on Industry 4.0 improvements like artificial intelligence (AI) in their production lines. Properly taking in this data, AI can transform your production process, delivering incredible outcomes for your business.

Why Would You Need AI?

While it may seem like a vision of the future, AI has proven to be widely used by many manufacturers worldwide. A study done by MIT estimated that around 60% of manufacturers have already adopted these solutions.

This growing popularity is not a fad, as AI implementation is a natural fit for the manufacturing industry due to all the data flowing that constantly needs to be analyzed. While AI was likely to make its way into warehouses at some point, the massive industry disruption due to COVID-19 caused many companies to fast-track these plans.

Making up for the sudden lack of human workers from lockdowns, AI has proven to be very useful in keeping supply chains moving quickly and with surprisingly high-quality control.

How AI Can Help Manufacturers

From an outside point of view, the switch to AI can come off as wildly expensive to implement, as well as cutting out the human aspect. In reality, artificial intelligence can pay for itself within months, complementing human workers with a wide range of benefits like:

Quality Control

Regardless if a man or machine is involved, manufacturing always has required a fine eye for detail, especially when it comes to electronics. Today, thanks to data-driven assembly lines, AI can ensure that every aspect of the line functions accordingly, bringing interconnectedness to your manufacturing systems. If there is an issue with an item, AI can alert workers or machines to allow quick and efficient adjustments before too much damage is done.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/enhance-your-manufacturing-process-with-artificial-intelligence/

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At Katalyst-Nova Techset, we are well aware that writing academic work can be an exhausting and time-consuming process, taking months to years to complete. The last thing you want to do is read it over from top to bottom immediately after finishing the brunt of the work, which is why it is so handy to have a copy editor to reduce the workload you must deal with. From fixing simple syntax errors to merging the format of your writings following style guides, hiring a copy editor to improve the quality of your publications can take much of that weight off your shoulders.

However, finding an editor to alleviate this anxiety is not as easy as Googling for freelance workers and picking the cheapest option. You need to consider many things when finding the right editor for your academic work, as the wrong choice could saddle you with even more work fixing all the inadequate edits.

To make sure you make the right choice the first time, here are some things we recommend looking out for when looking for a copy editor for your next academic piece.

Find what YOU want out of your editor

There is quite a bit that goes into the copyediting process, from general grammatical corrections to focusing deeper on the organization of your arguments. Before you even think about paying an editor, it is wise to fully pin down what exactly you want fixed or taken an extra look at.

For some, you might just need to make sure your sentences and paragraphs flow and transition smoothly, while a more research-heavy piece may need a deeper dive into the accuracy of any citations and quotes. There are also many different kinds of editing that could be done for academic publishing, from macro to micro edits, and nailing down which kind is the best for your paper can save both you and your copy editor valuable time.

What are the style and language formats?

Once your paper is completed, the search for a journal or publication to select begins. However, a common mistake many academic writers make is presuming that every publication adheres to a single agreed-upon style. From differing style guides (APA, Chicago, AMA, etc.) to the preference for American or British spellings, there are many things to consider when pitching your work.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/skills-to-keep-an-eye-out-for-with-copy-editors/

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As a writer, you often put months or even years into composing and researching to get published in an academic journal; understandably, the first thing you want to do is send it off immediately to a publication. However, there will always be a few grammatical and spelling errors no matter your skill level, and they can quickly build up the further you get into your work. While seemingly minor, this general lack of polish can distract the reader from your overall point, possibly even resulting in your work being rejected outright.

At Nova Techset, we understand that having a reliable copyeditor is absolutely vital in academic writing. Reviewing the entirety of your work for the utmost accuracy and clarity, bringing in a copy editor after you complete the writing process can often be the make-or-break factor to get your article noticed. Copy-editing can truly make your submission look as professional as it would in your head.

But what exactly is copyediting? With so many different words like “proofreading,” “content editing,” and “substantive editing” thrown around, we understand that it can be very confusing to peg down exactly what to expect out of a copy editor.

To put it simply, copyediting is a careful and deliberate process that generally checks:

General mechanics like spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Word choice (any industry jargon or phrases that may need explanation)
Consistent voice and tone with the rest of your content
Clarity of the sentences and paragraphs
General fact-checking of sources and quotes to ensure utmost accuracy
As you can see, that is quite a bit of material to keep track of, especially after you are exhausted from finishing your manuscript. That’s where a copy editor comes in to reread your article with fresh eyes, catching any errors that you might have missed when focusing on the writing process.

On the off chance that you managed to come out the other end reasonably unscathed without any punctuation or syntax errors, you still have to contend with the possibility of plagiarism or misquoting a subject. Considering that those two mishaps could harm—or flat out destroy—your career more than a few spelling mistakes, it is more often than not the safe bet to have a copy editor on at some point to give your piece a read-over.

For the most part, copy editors usually work with magazines, publishers, and websites, but are incredibly useful across a wide variety of industries, especially academic publication. While services like Grammarly are useful to pick out obvious errors in real-time, a fully automated end-to-end copyediting system like Nova Techset’s Casper™ is what will end up saving you the most trouble when you want to be published in an academic journal.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/why-you-need-a-copyeditor/

 
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Revolutionize Your Warehouse With Plug-and-Produce

From their experiences during the pandemic, many businesses learned firsthand that their needed output can be wildly inconsistent, and with that, a need for change has arisen. Thanks to the advancements in technology and automation gained from the race to Industry 4.0, companies all over the world have been thriving off the many innovations over the years.

With businesses worldwide in the pursuit of Industry 4.0, it is now more important than ever to achieve a sense of interconnectedness within your operations. “Plug and Produce” products are one of these vital methods, allowing you to easily improve your output margin in a ridged industry where it is often too costly to do so.

What is Plug-and-Produce?

Establishing an interconnected setup between your computers, production lines, and machines is easier said than done. There are many factors to consider, from the flexibility to quickly adapt to production changes to greater transparency of work processes, all of which ensure your business functions as efficiently as possible.

However, the machinery required for all of this can take up a massive amount of space and their upkeep being wildly expensive. That is where “plug-and-produce” components factor in. Named after the “plug and play” concept of simply putting a flash drive into a computer to start a program, plug-and-produce” consists of a connector that, once installed, will unite a majority of the aspects in a production line.

A plug-and-produce component can provide a wide variety of services, from high voltages, compressed air pressure, and secure connectivity, all to make sure all the processes function as usual. This means you can avoid the pain and costly nature of changes to your supply chain in the future, as you only have to add another connection to your line rather than a full-blown expansion.

An easy example of a plug-and-produce device would be a sorting conveyor belt. Typically, with a large amount of material and products that go through the production line, you would need several stations down the belt to assist in the sorting process, requiring hundreds of meters of cables to connect everything to the system. On the other hand, plug-and-produce can ensure the system is fully automated thanks to distributed control units, saving you thousands of dollars, as well as loads of space in your warehouse.

How Can You Start it?

While these devices can make your supply chain run far smoother, the process of setting them up is not a total cakewalk. It is essential to choose a proper setup based on your business’s industry and products.

First, you must check and see that all of your devices will be using the same architecture, so your operations will run seamlessly. Determining whether you need single or multi-protocol settings is also recommended, as the latter can operate within different networks, beneficial if your operations go across different countries or regions. Finally, the material housing the components can also make a world of difference, as a metal casing can make the product more electrically powerful in the long term.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/revolutionize-your-warehouse-with-plug-and-produce/

 
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Advancements in automation have helped gradually move the world towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Nicknamed “Industry 4.0,” these improvements in how the average supply chain functions have raised the bar for what customers expect from your E-commerce business.

It is more important now than ever to update your business for the future. One of the most important aspects that will get you there is a great combination of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Warehouse Management System (WMS) like CloudCelero offers.

CeleroERP

When it comes to starting your business on the path towards automation, there is nothing better than a good Enterprise Resource Planning software. Previously, it could be an absolute pain to have to search through a multitude of spreadsheets and files to get a single piece of data. However, with an ERP system, you can employ a consolidated database for all your business’s information, allowing everyone in your organization to access the data no matter their department. Originally, ERP’s were meant to streamline general functions for HR and accounting, but as time went on, most systems started to become far more multifaceted.

Today, a proper ERP setup is expected to properly integrate into your systems, automating your business’s operations, something that CeleroERP can do for you. Whether you are looking for digital commerce solutions or wish to scale your operations, CeleroERP presents a flexible, modular approach for organizing your business.

Sporting the expected features of an ERP like inventory management and organization and the ability to stage orders, Celero also provides various functions that will give you an edge over your competition. Offering real-time connectivity throughout the entire sales process in conjunction with Magento, CeleroERP allows you to manage your catalog, accept payment, or start a return just as easily. Additionally, it also supports accounting data integration to Quick Books and other accounting systems, even sporting Currency and U OM conversion.

CeleroWMS

While it is convenient to have an ERP setup in place, it would ultimately be nothing without a proper Warehouse Management System to back it up. Used as a catch-all term, WMS consists of coordinating shipping, building layout, and labor supervision, all of which ensures your business is operating as fast and as efficiently as possible. Not to be confused with inventory management, warehouse management involves the ordering, storing, and organizing of raw materials, but the two do go hand in hand.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/future-proof-your-warehouse-with-cloudcelero/

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From Personalization to Purchase Customizing Your

Today it is not enough to just bring your business online, you must also keep a strong connection between you and your customers through excellent use of personalization. An aspect physical stores cannot compete with, customizing the experience for each of your customers will set you apart from the pack in today’s crowded E-commerce landscape.

Why Personalization?

Traditionally in retail stores, you would be greeted by a sales associate upon entering, forming a bond of sorts with you as you go around the store and try on products. Shopping on the internet, however, is a vastly different experience, being more cold, impersonal, and done through a glowing screen in your home.

Personalization is something that we as customers have grown so accustomed to online that we hardly notice it, unless it is absent. In fact, Shopify found that 86% of customers said that that personalization had impacted what they eventually purchased from an E-commerce business.

Additionally, humans apply emotions—consciously and unconsciously—to everything they experience, and this applies to digital commerce too. If someone has a positive experience, a sense of loyalty will emerge, resulting in them likely returning for repeat business.

Steps to Better Personalize Your Business

Naturally, it is nigh impossible to apply that warm human touch over the internet, but the advancement of technology still allows you to reach out to your customers in an inviting way.

With plenty of information data out there like browsing and purchase histories that can help you get a grasp of what customers want so you can make them truly feel like individuals, not just one of your many regulars. Even something as small as knowing a customer’s name is pleasing to 75% of consumers according to Forbes.

Here are some tips on how to personalize your experience for each of your customers:

Your data is your friend

As an owner of an E-commerce business, keeping track of your data should already be second nature to you for managing your monthly costs. However, this can also be applied to your customers to better grasp what they are looking for out of your digital store.

With E-commerce platforms like BigCommerce or Shopify, you can utilize a wealth of customer analytic data, from the web traffic each page gets, the words customers search for, and their personal information. Investing in these services, or a consulting company like Katalyst Technologies, will give you the edge your sales and marketing team will need in the future.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/from-personalization-to-purchase-customizing-your-e-commerce-business/

 
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With eCommerce businesses multiplying in size, so are the possible threats that can harm both your store and customers. No matter the size, any digital commerce company is a jackpot of personal and financial data. For every solution, hackers and criminals are soon to develop another way that could irreparably damage your company and its reputation.

Today, securing your business is not just about protecting your company but the information your customers have entrusted to your company as well. It is vital to stay one step ahead of these threats by getting an idea of the most common methods of cyber-attacks and adequately prepare your store for what may be to come.

The Biggest Threats to Your Digital Store.

Phishing

One of the most common methods of attacking your eCommerce business is through a social engineering method referred to as phishing. If you have ever received a suspicious email from a prince in Nigeria, or winnings for a contest you never entered in, you have been exposed to a phishing attempt.

Often a warning or something that sounds time-sensitive, phishing emails and pop-up ads imitate a person or business and gain access to personal information through unsafe links or manipulation. While most are obvious fakes, some higher quality attempts mimic the design or verbiage of a particular organization to the point where it can look undesignable from the real thing outside of the more minor details.

A good way to avoid scams like this is to remember that companies will likely never ask for your information (CVV code, account number, SSN, etc.) in such an upfront manner. As a business owner, it is also a great move to specify in your emails or account pages that you would never send out such requests to help educate your consumer base to avoid accidents like this.

Malware and Ransomware

While phishing is often used for taking your personal information, it can also be an easy method to spread malware to your computer devices or website. Much like a biological virus, malware often sneaks into your system through sketchy links or downloaded files, unearthing itself once opened to cause chaos.

Once installed on your device or inserted into your web page, the malware can a variety of attacks on your E-commerce website or device, stealing your and your customer’s data or redirecting your store to separate web pages that can further trick customers into revealing payment methods or passwords.

One of the more threatening variants of malicious software, ransomware, can even lock down your device or data, demanding payment for it to be accessed again.

For consumers, it is vital to have malware protection installed to scan your device regularly, but on the business side, having a firewall to dissuade any hackers from attempting harm to your store.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/keeping-your-ecommerce-store-cyber-safe/

 
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How Fast Fashion Can Improve Your Supply Chain Man

As COVID-19 pushed many industries to drastically change up their supply chain systems, a significant size of the fashion world was already there. Though they faced a small drop in profits due to the pandemic, businesses worldwide that embraced fast fashion still grossed a combined total of $31.4 billion in 2020 according to Intrado and shows no sign of slowing down. Utilizing the best E-commerce web solutions, fast fashion is revitalizing and keeping the retail industry afloat during chaotic times.

What is Fast Fashion?

While you may not recognize the term, the average person is probably familiar with the concept of a fast fashion supply chain from ordering clothing and furniture online. Also known as “fashion on-demand,” fast fashion defines the vertical supply chain management system that is set up with speed in mind, making sure the design, production, and shipping of items happens as quickly as possible.

If you have ever shopped at a store like H&M or Zara, you have likely taken part in fast fashion, but this supply chain system is not only for larger businesses. Smaller digital commerce retailers can also benefit from fast fashion, as the ability to quickly create personalized apparel and ship it out to customers in just a few weeks is game changing.

The Best Styles with the Lowest Prices

The fashion and apparel industries are always fickle, with styles coming and going within the blink of an eye. One of the primary benefits of fast fashion is that a business’s supply chain—if properly adapted to this method—is more than ready to quickly adapt to and move on to a new concept at the drop of a hat. Time is everything, especially when it comes to social media trends, as being just one day late can mean that you are either beaten to the punch or arriving right when customers move on to something else. Manufacturer Boohoo, for example, is able to design, manufacture, and ship a product on average within two weeks.

While they are more of an outlier when it comes to their speed, Boohoo’s supply chain strategy allows them to quickly grasp what exactly their customers do or do not want. Producing a limited number of clothing per design, they ensure that they will never be stuck with backrooms and warehouses full of shirts no one wanted. Once they find out through data and sales numbers, they can easily ramp up or stop production, saving an incredible amount of time and money compared to traditional retail practices.

This limited nature of the products is also helpful when it comes to customers coming out to your business. With traditional retail, everyone knows there will be plenty of a particular shirt or table, but the finite number of products in a fast fashion model entices consumers to run out that instant to buy one, as who knows how much is left or when it will return. In addition to the instant return on these items, the luxury of these scarce items also push customers to buy at full price rather than waiting on a discount.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/how-fast-fashion-can-improve-your-supply-chain-management/

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Gone are the days of handling servers in-house or paying for expensive pieces of software! With the gradual move to digital commerce, the way customers interact with and pay for services has dramatically changed. Subscriptions and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) models are far more convenient for customers, offering inexpensive and suitable methods to run their operations while accompanying their customers’ frequently changing needs.

What is Pay-Per-Use?

When it comes to expensive aspects like E-commerce software, servers, and the like, a smaller business can quickly be bled dry of money in a short amount of time. This is where the pay-per-use (PPU) model comes in to help, allowing customers to pay for exactly what their business needs. Also known as metered services, think of it more as renting out a service from a company instead of outright buying it.

Why Go With This Model?

One of the best aspects of the PPU model is that the barrier to entry is significantly low compared to a typical subscription model. This makes this a great opportunity for smaller and mid-sized businesses that do not have the money for an expensive server setup.

Since you can pay for what you need, the overall commitment you make is entirely up to you. Want to scale back your cloud storage due to less data coming in? Or maybe you want to increase your serverless computing setup to account for more applications? Both are easy to make happen. You can contact an expert at Katalyst today to help modify your plan for to help better fit your workload.

While the PPU model puts you more at the whim of these businesses and how they operate, it also removes a great deal of stress off your back. For example, if you choose to allow AWS—a service that utilizes the PPU model—to handle your cloud storage or virtual servers, they will be the ones to manage, clean up, and maintain your data, leaving you to focus your time and money on other critical tasks.

Why it May Not Be a Good Fit

However, in certain cases a PPU model may often cost you more in the long run. If what you require is only to be accessed or run for a small amount of time, this may be a perfect method. If needed for any longer, you might as well just invest in setting up your own service, as costs build up over time, as well as unexpected bursts in your cloud usage, surprising you with a hefty bill at the end of the month. It may be initially expensive and difficult to set up your own systems, but it will likely save you more in the future.

The scaling mechanism and tiered nature of some PPU models also do not favor customers in transitioning to this new method. While developers may understand the terminology, the average business owner looking to outsource this work to AWS or Azure are not very familiar with how much a megabyte per second ends up being in the long run. It will be vital to speak with a professional to fully grasp what you will pay every cycle for services like Lambda or Azure Disk Storage.

To know more - https://katalysttech.com/blog/pay-per-use-the-payment-model-of-the-future/