Online Social Networks: an essential part in today’s life

The world of web has witnessed colossal changes in the past decade. Web usage has seen a tremendous variation, from a mere browsing platform to a central hub of social interactions. Emails, blogs, and social networks form an indispensable part of daily life of an average individual, with social networking topping the list. The advent of Web 2.0[1] applications has made social networking the de-facto standard of communication among internet users across all age groups, worldwide. Usage of these social networking sites varies from online shopping (ex www.flipcart.com,ebay), online knowledge base (ex-Wikipedia), business profiles (LinkedIn), online journalism (blogs) to social interaction with friends, family and professional colleagues online. Every day, 41% of Facebook users and 27% of Twitter users log on to their pages, four out of ten doing so before they get dressed or have breakfast [2, 3]. Influence of these sites on human minds is statistically visible, 9 percent of digital news consumers follow the recommendations from Twitter and Face Book [4].

With the advent of social network it has become very popular trend for people to share what they are doing and what they are feeling regarding certain topics across various social network platform. Now a days we have vast amount of description, comments and rating for various services. This information is valuable as it provides individual spontaneous emotional realities.

Social Network

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes", which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.

A network is defined as an object composed of entities interacting each other through some connections.Many systems represented in the form of networks, with sets of nodes or vertices connected together in pairs by links or edges. A natural mean, to mathematically represent a network is through a graph model.

Impact of Social Network

Social Networking has altered the level and style of societal bonding. It has affected the way we connect, share and build relationships with people and communities around the globe. Analyzing the current trends, it is obvious that the years to come will witness major changes in terms of connectivity, as the social web continues to evolve and adapt to our habits and technology. This dynamic scenario drives the research community towards development of innovative techniques to provide an enhanced amiable and hassle free social interactive environment. Efforts in this direction are already visible.

Social sites are primarily a major source of information exchange both personal and professional. The presence of SNS is being felt in every other sector for various activities example-: e-commerce, e-banking, e-learning, healthcare and travel.

The technological empowerment of the communication in Social Network has become vital for deriving optimum benefits from emerging change of communication. The popularity of these sites provides a unique opportunity to study the characteristics and dynamics of social networks at large scale.

References:

[1] Hendler, J. and Goldbeck, J., 2008, Metcalfe's law, web 2.0 and the Semantic Web. J. Web Sem. 6(1):14-20.

[2] Digital Surgeons, 2010. Social demographics 2010: A fresh look at Facebook and Twitter. Message posted: http://www.digitalsurgeons.com/blog/design/social demographics-2010-a-fresh-look-at-facebookand- twitter.

[3] Integer/iModerate, 2011, Social Networking and Brand Engagement Research.

[4] PEW Research center’s project for excellence in journalism 2012 state of the news media.

Ms. Puja Munjal

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Information Technology

Evolution and Revolution of Internet of Things (IoT)

In present era of technology, internet does not need any introduction. It is network of networks which connects everyone and it’s about to connect everything. Wide availability of Broadband Internet, decreasing cost of connectivity, creation of numerous devices with Wi-Fi capabilities with sensors built into them, reducing cost of technology implementation and smartphone penetration is sky-rocketing.  All these are leading to create a “perfect storm” for the“Internet of things” (IoT). Both in the workplace and outside, it is becoming an increasingly growing topic of conversation. It not only has the potential to impact our daily life but also our working style. Remote information and control are prompting towardsa new generation of devices ranging from doorknobs to thermostats to refrigerators to lightbulbs. From the largest technology and manufacturing companies to a mob of startups, the Internet of Things is exploding.But exactly, what is the “Internet of things” and how is it going to affect you? There are a lot of complexities around the “Internet of things”. Let’s understand some of them:

A brief Introduction ofthe Internet Of Things

In simple words, it is the concept of fundamentally connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). It includes any household electronic device from cellphones to coffee makers, from washing machines to headphones, from lamps to wearable devices and anyother device you can think of.  It can also include the industrial components of machinesi.e. jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig etc. In general we can say that if it has an on and off switch then hopefully it can be a part of the IoT.  The analyst company Gartner forecasts that by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices… From the estimate of some others this number can be even much higher, over 100 billion.  It can be treated as a giant network of connected “things” including people. The connectivitymay be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.

How Does This Impact You?

IoT might revolutionize your way of living. In future it may become the rule that, “Anything which can be connected, will be connected.” Try to visualize your future life. For example you are going for a meeting and your car has the access ofyour calendar and guides you to take the best route. If you are stuck in traffic then your car might send a text to the other party notifying them that you will be late. Your alarm clock not only wakes up you at 6 a.m. but also notifies your coffee maker to start brewing coffee for you. What if your office equipment knew when it was running low on supplies and automatically re-ordered more?  How will it feel if the wearable device you used in the workplace could tell you when and where you had been most active and productive and shared this information with other devices that you used while working?

Recently lots of work is being done to find “How ‘IoT’ can be applied to things like transportation networks: “Smart Cities” to help us reduce waste and improve efficiency for things such as energy use” etc.Also to understand and improve how we work and live. Actually, the IoT allows for virtually limitless opportunities and connections to take place, many of which we may not even think or imagine or fully understand the impact, today.

Challenges of IoT

IoT definitely opens the door to a lot of opportunities but also to many challenges. Some of them are:

Security

The biggest challenge for IoT is security .It opens up companies all over the world to more security threats.As billions of devices are connected together, all these devices and systems collect a lot of personal data about people e.g. the smart camera knows when you’re home and what electronics you use when you’re there. This information is then shared with other devices and held in databases by companies.There is a possibility that someone is able to hack into your toaster and thereby get access to your entire network.

Privacy

Then we have the issue of privacy and data sharing. Since it is upcoming field, so presently we can only imagine how the conversation and concerns will escalate when billions of devices will be connected.

Storage

Another issue that many companies specifically are going to face with IoTis around the massive amounts of data that all of these devices are going to produce. It will be a big challenge for companies to figure out a way to store, track, analyze and make sense of the vast amounts of data which will be generated.

So what now?

Presently, IoT is being used by big companies like Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, and Google etc. Globally, new areas are being explored where IoT may bring revolution and change the way we think, live or work. People are trying to understand the opportunities and challenges which may arise as more and more devices start to join the IoT. For now the best thing that we can do is educate ourselves about what the IoT is and the potential impacts that can be seen on how we work and live.

Dr. Meenakshi Narula

Professor & Head
Dept. of Information Technology

SBI Merger:  Boon or Bane?

India is witnessing a phase of consolidation in current scenario. Every sector nowadays is looking for the adoption of merger and acquisitions with the guiding aim of making the combined entity stronger and competitive. Indian banking sector is also following the same trend. Few months back State Bank of India announced the merger of its five subsidiary banks – State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Patiala, Sate Bank of Mysore, State bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad and Bhartiya Mahila Bank Limited. The merger would certainly strengthen the bank at global level. The step helps in coping with various private sector banks and foreign banks in present vibrant business environment. The efficiency of bank will improve by rationalisation of branches, common treasury pooling and proper deployment of trained manpower.

Rising Non Performing Assets (NPA) is one of the biggest challenges for State Bank of India nowadays. The ineffective borrowing lending practices, economic slowdown and lenient collection policies make it difficult to realize the dues from corporate borrowers. The merger would help in easing the pressure of NPA and increasing the profit margins. The decision is also justified in terms of cost cutting as instead of establishing new branches, it can utilize the already existing branches of its subsidiary banks. Although the employees of associate banks are not happy with this move as they fear losing their jobs after this merger. Integration of over 70,000 employees in SBI raises a question on effectiveness of the merger. Cultural issues also prevail specially in case of State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Patiala .

Other challenges that would be faced are variability in pension liability provisions and accounting policies for recognizing bad loans. To give some relief to the employees of associate banks management of State Bank of India, however offer various benefits in terms of better pay and wage packages. In addition, it is proposed that employees would be having global outlook and opportunity to get posted in foreign offices of State Bank of India. Besides, customer of associate bank will also get benefited as they could avail same services and facilities given to existing customers. Speculations are many regarding positive and negative aspects of this merger but actual outcomes can be analysed only after its implementation. Further the bank will be able sustain itself in this new environment becomes a reckoning question. Lastly it can be concluded that the outcomes of merger are generally seen after a few years. The post analysis of such mergers determines their success or failures.

Dr. Deergha Sharma

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management Studies

Mathematical  Logics

There are two type of reasoning: Verbal reasoning and non verbal reasoning. In verbal reasoning we use numbers alphabets to solve the problems, but in non verbal reasoning we use some diagrams, figures, pictures, etc. Mathematical logic is concerned with methods of reasoning. The Greek philosopher and scientist “Aristotle” is said to be the first person to have studied logical reasoning. Logical reasoning is the essence of mathematics and is therefore an important starting point for study of discrete mathematics. Logics among other things, have provided the theoretical basis for many areas of computer science such as digital logic design, Automata theory, and computability, and artificial intelligence etc. The one component of logic is proposition calculus, which deals with statements with value true or false and is concerned with analysis of propositions. And the other part is predicates calculus, which deals with the predicates which are propositions containing variables. In this blog we discuss some propositions and their applications in daily life.

Propositions

Before define propositions, a reader should know the sentence and statements.” A number of words making a complete grammatical structure having a sense and meaning in logical mathematics is called a sentence. The mathematical formulation of sentence is. 

Sentence = Subject + verb + object. The sentence may be classified in to two categories in   the view of logic, Declarative or non declarative sentence. ‘A proposition or statement is a declarative sentence that is either true or false, for example,”  four plus five equal to nine” And “ three plus three is equal to six” are both statements because both statements has true value. If” two plus four is equal to seven” And “seven plus three is equal to twelve “are both statements because they have false value. Therefore a statement and proposition is a sentence having values. This value may be true or false. Similarly “x + y> 1 “ is not a statement because for some values of x and y the sentence is true, whereas for others it is false.. For Instance if x =1 and y =2, the sentence is true, If x =-3 and y =1, this is false. The truth or falsity of a statement is truth value. Since only two possible truth values are possible in this logic called two valued logic. Questions exclamations and commands are not propositions or statements. For Example.

(a) The sun rises in the west.
(b) 3 +2 = 5
(c) (5,6)  is a subset of  (7,6,5)
(d) Do you speak Hindi  ?.
(e) Close the door.
(f) What the hot day.
(g) We shall have chicken for dinner.

Here the sentence (a), (b), and (c), are propositions or statements, the first is false and second and third are true. (d) is a question, not a declarative sentence, hence it is not a statement. (e) is   a declarative sentence, but not a statement, since it is true or false depends on the value of x.

(f), is not   a statement, because it is a command.

(g), is not a statement, it is exclamation.

(h), is a statement, since it is either true or false but not both, although one has to wait until dinner to find out if it is true or false.

Dr. Hakimuddin Khan

AssociateProfessor

Dept. of Management Studies

Digital Technology

Digital technology is not new to India. Indians taught the world how to use the technology but we were skeptical and did not fully implement it. Remember the first email was given by none other than Sameer Bhatia with the id of hotmail.com. Indians and specially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal realized the potential of digital technology during their last campaigns in their respective elections. Finally, now realizing the power of digital technology Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence Day the Digital India initiative.

It was said that one way to root out corruption from our system is to implement the use of plastic money and it will also check, to a great extent, the counterfeit money. But India being a rural based country having around 2/3 of the total population engaged in agriculture, they have limited access to banking facilities and even education.

Drenched in poverty they do not have sufficient fund in reserve to operate plastic money. Rather it is a situation of hand to mouth survival only with cash transaction.

However, Govt. is focusing on Digital areas in an attempt towards gradual upliftment in the standard of living & quality of life of the population. Recent Govt. drive encouraging people to open bank accounts is not likely to achieve overnight a cashless economy. The people especially in rural areas are habituated to cash transactions & it will take years to change their mind set.

As such, cashless transactions cannot be achieved in short span & will take time. Even in US 65% of the payments are still in cash as per western union President & CEO Hixmet Ersek.

Communication is the backbone of any activity. It is amazing to know how the Information Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized the business world beyond recognition. It has affected every aspect of human life in the positive sense. It has changed the pace and face of business.

It is a very vast subject and there are thousands of areas where ICT can be used. It is not possible in this blog to talk about all the areas. But a look at some of the areas will prove how the changes have touched human lives. The effective communication due to the advent of information technology, the agricultural industry has benefitted. The quality of agricultural research, training, education and extension has improved due to the advent of ICT. The farmers have received much needed timely help in crop production technology, inputs, seed technology, processing, agro finance, market support and agri-business. The productivity of major crops has improved to the extent that India is not only self-sufficient in feeding 125 million mouths but also exporting food grains to many countries. The digital India initiative will ensure that the small and marginal farmers also reap the benefits of communication technology.

Digital technology has revolutionized the education sector. The class room teachings have paved the way to virtual class rooms. The virtual class rooms have state of the art infrastructure. This has resulted in students studying in one country, attending virtual classes held in another part of the world. The students therefore, can get degrees from the top universities of world by studying in virtual class rooms.

It has given altogether a new meaning to teaching and learning technology. Through MOOCS initiative, education is imparted, in almost all the subjects, to students and teachers without much cost. These students are also awarded certificates of completion of the course from top universities of the world.

The health and social care sector has also benefited tremendously from the digital technology but it has lagged behind other industries in using technology. There are many opportunities as well as barriers in using the technology in health and social care sector. One of the inhibiting factors is the exorbitant cost involved the wellness sector.

Simple to use, low cost health apps are available on smart phones through which one can monitor one’s health parameters and take timely action. Efforts are being made to make it cost effective.

Digital India initiative, no doubt, can fulfill the ambitions and aspirations of Indians.

Dr. Avtar Singh Sethi

Professor and Head

Dept. of Management Studies

3 Simple steps to start Digital Marketing

In case of Metro and urban cities mindset of people doing marketing has gone drastic change . The usage of digital media is increasing over conventional expensive ways of Marketing using print media. The focus has shifted to engaging user who is spending more time at using phone devices and online methods. The youth of today seeks all the information online . The various techniques covered are Mobile APP ,Email marketing , Video Marketing, Engaging Prospects , Google adwords , Facebook advertisement to target audience .

Digital marketing is broad term for the targeting the right prospect, measure the campaign, and continuously interacting the target for marketing of products or services using digital technologies .The key objective is to promote brands to target audience, build preference database for future use, engage with prospects and increase sales through various digital marketing techniques. Today the world we live in has become increasingly digital focused with access to digital devises and the internet which has completely changed the way in which B2C or B2B  communicates and interacts. The term 'digital marketing' was first used in the 1990s . In 2012 and 2013 statistics showed digital marketing remained  fast growing field with estimated growth at 4.5 trillion online ads served annually . The report from various sources confirm that around  60% of a marketers' time is devoted to digital marketing activities .A figure close to 71% of companies planned to increase their digital marketing budgets this year. 78% of companies now say they have dedicated social media teams. 

To start with digital marketing the first very important step is to get responsive website as website is the gateway to your Institution which can make your image . Poorly designed website creates bad impression about your Institution. The look and feel of your website can directly influence how potential customers view your business. A good domain name, the right design template and memorable web copy help your business stand out from the competition. The trend is to go for responsive website which are Mobile friendly and cross device supportive. Using analytics one can measure traffic of users  , the percentage of traffic of mobile users on website rose to around 60% over last three years . Adobe provides themes and trends currently in use for a good website design .

Research have proved that content on right side of the page has high visibility and so your landing page should have key information on the right side. It is important to have a call-to-action or a CTA button, which encourages visitors to enter their information (name, email, etc.) to access a free trial, or a webinar, or an e-book, or any other item of value. The focused leads are created in this way. The landing page should have Chat Facility so that the customer can interact and get the information right away instead of waiting . free Chat like Twak can be configured in very simple way on the website /landing page.

Creating content that is of value to your prospects is the essence of inbound marketing. Blogs are amongst the most common content that you can create as a part of your inbound marketing strategy. Post at least one blog per week. For example, if you run an MBA institute, you can write on topics such as ‘full time v/s part-time MBA’ or ‘MBA loans’, Managing Stress of MBA , Career after MBA so that students searching for this information land on your page. Define metrics (likes, shares, downloads, hits, etc.) are most important for you. People will directly see a glimpse of your service from your content, which will help them convert faster.

Start with these steps and measure increase in traffic using analytics. Once this is done then more advanced techniques can be used.

Dr. Seema Agarwal

Professor

Dept. of Information Technology

COMPARISON OF OLD IAS AND IND AS WITH RESPECT TO PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. Old Indian Accounting Standards was named as ‘Disclosures of Accounting Principles and Policies’ where as in the Ind AS, the name has been changed to ‘Presentation of Financial Statements’.

2. Normally, the entities prepare their financial statements for a period of one year. But, in certain circumstances the entities are allowed to prepare their financial statements for a period of 52 weeks. As per Old IAS, the entities are allowed to do such practice but as per Ind AS such practice of preparing financial statements for a period of 52 weeks is not allowed. Now, according to Ind AS all the entities have to make their financial statements for one year only.

3. As per old IAS the complete set of financial statements includes:

                    I.            A statement of financial position (balance sheet) at the end of an accounting period.

                  II.            A statement of profit and loss and other comprehensive income for the period.

               III.            A statement of changes in equity for the period

               IV.            A  statement of cash flows for the period

                  V.            Notes, comprising of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes.

               VI.            Comparative information prescribed by the standard.

But as per Ind AS, the complete set of financial statements comprise of :

                    I.            Balance Sheet ( changes in Equity)

                  II.            Statement of Profit or Loss

               III.            Statement of Changes in Cash Flows

               IV.            Notes comprising of significant accounting policies and other information

                  V.            Balance Sheet at the end of the earliest comparative period

4. Old Indian Accounting Standards was followed by all the companies. But, as per Ind AS, it not compulsory for all the companies to follow. The details are mentioned below:

1.                       Voluntary adaption: The companies can voluntary adopt Ind AS from the accounting year starting from 1st April 2015. The companies can also do comparison with the financial statement ending on 31st March 2015. But, once the company start following Ind AS, it becomes mandatory for them to follow the same for the subsequent financial years.
2.                          Mandatory adaption: The following companies will follow Ind AS

a.       From the financial year starting from 1st April 2016.

1.      The companies who are listed (or going to be listed) in any stock exchange in India or outside India having the net worth of Rs 500 crores or more.

2.      The companies who not listed in any stock exchange in India or outside India but are having the net worth of Rs 500 crores or more.

3.      The subsidiary, holding or joint venture companies of the above mentioned companies whether listed or not having net worth of Rs 500 crores.

b.      From the financial year starting from 1st April 2017.

1.      The companies who are listed ( or going to be listed) in any stock exchange in India or outside India having the net worth less than Rs 500 crores or more.

2.      The companies who not listed in any stock exchange in India or outside India but are having the net worth between Rs 250 crores and  Rs 500 crores or more.

3.      The subsidiary , holding or joint venture companies of the above mentioned companies whether listed or not having net worth of Rs 500 crores

III. Insurance companies, banking companies and non banking finance companies are not covered under mandatory adaption. Such companies are not allowed to opt for the voluntary adaption.

Dr. Himani Gupta

AssociateProfessor

Dept. of Management Studies