How to Study Smart

Why do some students study very hard, spending most of their time doing their revision but they aren’t the best in their study group? And why are there some students who only spend a fraction of the time studying but they often get good or even outstanding results? This was not due to the lack of natural talent in studies but it simply means that they have not found an effective tool which acts as a knack for understanding concepts and learning new ideas. One of the smart study habits is by using mind-map to promote effective and accelerated learning experience. A mind map is a useful web-like structure which emphasizes visual imagery that helps to engage in critical thinking and seeing a bigger picture. Empirically, mind-mapping is proven as an effective method of note-taking as an active learning (Abi-El-Mona and Abd-Ei-Khalick, 2008; Liu, Zhao and Ma et al., 2014). Mind mapping makes learning more vivid, thus promotes creative thinking and encourages brainstorming. Th

Business without IT is like BIRD without WINGS


As cliche as it sounds the blood, sweat and tears for business is the Internet Technologies. Did you know that out of 825 senior business leaders being interviewed, 98% of them using internet to operate their businesses. It is also commonly known as the Internet of Things (IoT), which is kind of a thing in this revolutionized world. Someone named Kevin Ashton came up with the term while working on a PowerPoint Presentation at Procter & Gamble back in the spring of 1999. 

Undeniably everyone is aware of the growth in innovation through the boom of internet, it's like a version of orange is the new black thing especially in the perspective of business. Regardless, the information technology fosters innovation in business and allows seizing potential opportunities, and guess what it's none other than the concept of E-commerce. It’s not only a word of mouth but it does brings significant difference within businesses. 

The famous known retail business Walmart, embraced IT advancement and opened up e-commerce in where customers allow to make grocery purchase online, instead of walk-in Walmart physical store to buy. Today, Walmart’s digital sales generate more than $14billion or about one-sixth those of Amazon’s (Phil, 2016). That is pretty amazing for a retail store that has less coverage than Amazon and started from scratch in 2000 (Walmart, 2017).

However Internet of Things is not an idea that emerges recently, but businesses started to realize the importance of internet technologies that act as behind the scene of a whole business operation. The idea of internet technologies are not only main for increasing innovation but also businesses nowadays obsess with the word efficiency. There’s nothing like a full on efficiency and effectiveness that make the businesses who they are today. Even so, internet technologies can be seen as a multiple connected wire that integrates all the systems and form a so called Enterprise Resource Planning. 

Did you know Enterprise Resource Planning system is one of the most underrated system ever exist in business?! Businesses rarely talk about it or even mention the system yet it is the backbone of major multinational businesses. Enterprise Resource Planning implementation yields a range of benefits in return for businesses (Panorama, 2016). Reducing external and internal failure cost, specifically improved data reliability and communication between suppliers and customers. For instance, employees can easily acquire the desired information through intranet, there is no need to physically visit relative department to get the needed document and information (How Convenient). 

I think from the information above it clearly shows why it is the blood, sweat and tears of businesses. Well, if it’s a movie you might see tons of information, connected wire and systems flowing around in an endless cycle. Even though we might not know the downside behind all the innovations but in the business perspective it allows them to seize whatever opportunities that will bring changes to the world and I bet there are more things to look forward to in many years to come. (Prepare to be amazed). 

References
1.    Phil, W. (2016). Walmart Has Reignited Its E-Commerce Growth. Fortune.com. [online], 19th August 2016.
Available at: http://fortune.com/2016/08/18/walmart-ecommerce-2/ [Accessed 19 Jun. 2017]. 
2.   Walmart (2017). Our History. Corporate.walmart.com. [online]
Available at: http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-history
[Accessed 19 Jun. 2017]. 
3.   Panorama (2016). 2016 Report on ERP Systems and Enterprise Software. http://go.panorama-consulting.com. [online]
Available at: http://go.panorama-consulting.com/rs/panoramaconsulting/images/2016-ERP-Report.pdf
[Accessed 19 Jun. 2017]. 



By: Linda Raj, BBM1541F2

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