Data has always been important to business. While it wasn't long ago that businesses kept minimal information on people who bought their products, nowadays companies keep vast amounts of data. In the late 20th century, marketers began to take demographics seriously. It was hard to keep track of so much information without the help of computers.

Only large companies in the '60s and '70s could afford the research necessary to deliver real marketing insight. The marketers of yesteryear relied upon focus groups and expensive experiments to gauge consumer behavior in a controlled environment. Today even the smallest of companies can have access to a rich array of real-world data about their consumers' behavior and their consumers. The amount of data that is stored today dwarfs the data of only a few years ago by several orders of magnitude.

So what kind of information are businesses storing for marketing purposes? Some examples include:

- Demographic information — age, gender, ethnicity, education, occupation and various other individual characteristics.

Recently, the new iOS update had added Reminders to the iPhone. If you ever found yourself setting notes on your iPhone to remember to do things, such as buying milk while at the grocery store, this process has become leagues upon leagues simpler, and faster. On your iPhone is an application named “Reminders”. Tap on this application and experience the new world of To-Do lists.

Right away, you are greeted by a screen that looks similar to a notepad, where you would be scribbling down reminders for this, and for that. To start off, tap on the plus button, and you are able to input the reminder you want. Say you want to be reminded to “Buy Milk.” Just type that into the application and you’re good to go.

But wait, there’s more. What this new application brings to the table that is extremely useful is the fact that your iPhone can remind you to do that task at a certain location, which, in this case, is buying milk. If you had saved your regular grocery store in your Maps application as a favorite location, you are able to do so. (To save a favorite location, go into your Maps application, search for your nearest grocery store that you regularly shop at, tap on the pin, tap on the blue arrow to get more information, and “Add to Bookmarks.”) In order to remind you to buy milk at your favorite grocery store, slide the “Off” to “On” and you are now able to set where you would like to be reminded at, and at what point in time. Now, you will never leave the grocery store without buying milk!

Communication is one of the main objectives that an organization needs to have in place to stay efficient and productive. A breakdown in accurate and efficient communication between departments at any point in the organization can result in conflict or loss of business.  Sadly, the efficiency between different departments in an organization becomes most evident when communication breaks down. As an example, David Grossman reported in “The Cost of Poor Communications” that a survey of 400 companies with 100,000 employees each cited an average loss per company of $62.4 million per year because of inadequate communication to and between employees.

With the dawning of the big-data era and the global competition that Machine Learning algorithms has sparked, it’s more vital than ever for companies of all sizes to prioritize departmental communication mishaps. Perhaps, today, as a result of the many emerging markets, the most essential of these connections are between IT and the business units. CMO’s and CIO’s are becoming natural partners in the sense that CMO’s, in order to capture revenue opportunities, are expected to master not just the art of strategy and creativity but also the science of analytics. The CIO, on the other hand, is accountable for using technical groundwork to enable and accelerate revenue growth. Since business and technology people speak very different languages, there’s a need on both sides to start sharing the vocabulary or understanding of what is expected in order to avoid gridlock.

In the McKinsey article, Getting the CMO and CIO to work as partners, the author speaks to five prerequisite steps that the CMO and the CIO can take in order to be successful in their new roles.

--- Be clear on decision governance
Teams should define when decisions are needed, what must be decided, and who is responsible for making them.

The earning potential of a software developer largely depends on their knowledge, their chosen area of expertise, experience and flexibility to relocate if necessary.  In the ever changing landscape of Information Technology, many argue that the way to make more money is to specialize in a technology that fewer people are using.  As an example, there are tons of Java programmers out there, but nowhere near enough in lesser known languages such as Perl or Python.  However, there are plenty of opportunities for folks who are willing to burn the midnight oil to gain skills in these niche disciplines.

Because the Information Technology Industry is a rapidly evolving entity, gunning for the "Next Big Thing" is constantly an arm’s length away.  For this reason, developers looking to get requisite knowledge to successfully compete can, for the most part, expect to resign their weekends for the LOVE of code and studying.   And, it’s fair to say that a stick-to-itiveness to teach yourself how to code can be more important than any degree when job prospecting.  Sam Nichols, a mobile developer at SmugMug, puts it this way: “Build a table, build a computer, build a water gun, build a beer bong, build things that will take a week and build things that need to be done in 40 minutes before the party. Making stuff is what this field is all about and getting experience building things, especially with others, especially when it breaks and fails along the way can help with perspective and resiliency.”

Software developers already skilled at writing code are readily able to translate that knowledge to web development. The fact that the information technology sector has shifted largely to web-based infrastructure and software application as system (SaaS) database and operating system capabilities, means that software developers have a wide variety of opportunity in the web development segment of the consulting and job market.

If you are a software developer seeking to increase your earning potential, gaining expertise in  Web development  enhances your ability to attract new opportunities. The more creative a software developer, the far better chance they will have at benefitting from current market demand for new technologies and software innovation. Customization is hot right now, and software developers involved in the creation of updates and unique features to SaaS can add extra value to their portfolio with very little time and effort involved.

 In order for software developers to stay abreast of their field, continuing education and is required to ensure that technical skills are up-to-date. Gaining knowledge in design of computer applications is one of the main objectives in the development and planning of software products.
Once adequate knowledge has been acquired, many software developers can use those insights to develop custom software for a client as a consultant.