Key Takeaways from AMD’s Financial Analyst DayKey Takeaways from AMD’s Financial Analyst Day

The Financial Analyst Day 2020 hosted by AMD at their headquarters in Sunnyvale grabs attention even amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis. This is something you should pay attention to if you are pursuing a finance analyst course. Hosted every year, this event is known for its contribution to explain and educate finance analysts as well as investors about the innovations in technologies and the growth strategies for businesses that help achieve their targets. The event also does a recap of the company’s financial growth over the year, explains strategies, sets targets for the upcoming year, and predicts which of the new technologies would help the company to accomplish the targets. This year’s event started with a session by Lisa Su. She did a quick recap of the company’s business performance, followed by an insightful session on the company’s goals and expectations for the coming 3 years.

Plans for Big Technology Investments

AMD is considering technology as the foundation for their business in the coming years. Zen 3 is the next-generation CPU aimed to touch the market in the last leap of 2020. Zen 3 is designed with a 7nm process. The next version, Zen 4 has a 5nm process. However, just having this processor is not the only reason for the CPU’s performance. Better packaging design and interconnection also worked in favour to enhance the performance. The company is planning to scale up its technological investments to procure “X3D” packaging that has a unique combination of chiplets, hybrid 2.5D and 3D die stacking and is expected to deliver an increase in bandwidth density by ten times.

Another important announcement was on the next-generation AMD RDNA 2 architecture designed with a specific focus on gaming. The current AMD RDNA design is available in the AMD Radeon™ RX 5000 series GPUs. The advanced architecture is expected to bring a 50% performance improvement on the basis of “per-watt”. A new architecture for AMD Compute DNA (CDNA) graphics has been announced for the Data Centre to accelerate computing workloads. It is optimized for high-performance applications and machine learning.

Update on PC & Gaming Market

The company’s growth strategy for PC’s and gaming segments are impressive. AMD boasts about 100% growth in market share and client unit shipments since 2017. The unique feature of Ryzen product line was that it has 7nm processors in the desktop, mobile markets, and high-end desktop (HEDT).  This is to tap the high potential of the gaming market with 2.5 billion gamers across the world using games on mobile phones, PCs, and consoles. AMD’s Radeon Graphics IP can address all these markets and offers a choice with a new gaming architecture. Technology giants like Microsoft and Sony are willing to partner with AMD to create next-generation gaming consoles.

Update on Data Centre Market

From 2017, since the first-generation EPYC has been launched, AMD has enjoyed a good reputation in the data centre market. In some cases, the CPUs gave dual socket in a single socket. The second-generation EPYC allows the user a dual socket in a single socket solution.

Conclusion

The best takeaway from AMD’s Financial Analyst Day is the insight and encourage you to get through the company’s long-term strategy. Though there is a good amount of competition, AMD is here to sustain the growth. The company has the right strategy – to attack the growing markets. But they have to face the challenges such as competitions and error-free execution of the strategy. However, AMD has almost cracked it despite the challenges. AMD’s effort to create multi-generations of well-executed products combined with talented sales and marketing team has done a great job indeed.

 

Four Ways Business Analysts Can Use AI to Work Smarter

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most sought-after technologies espoused by businesses across the world. The organizations that uphold the value of innovation rely on artificial intelligence as the long-term business objective to achieve new or enhanced business strategies or business models. With businesses becoming more technology-driven and depend on cloud computing to store important assets and data, cybersecurity is always a matter of concern. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can help protect the data by identifying suspicious activities. Shortage of skilful professionals has become a back burner for many business organizations. Many organizations are considering it worth to invest in training their employees in AI.

Business Analysts’ Role

Many organisations identify the importance of hiring a business analyst to analyse and interpret the collected data and to use it to expand the scope of the business such as discovering a new market or to expand their services. Thus, business analysts play a key role in business organizations using machine learning tools techniques and AI tools to leverage diverse and rich data available. Four important contributions business analysts can make are:

  1. Help reduce customer churn
  2. Influence customer behaviour
  3. Remodel quality assurance
  4. Building Brand Reputation

Helping Reduce Customer Churn

Customer churn is a huge problem for businesses. Even big corporates like Accenture lost about 52 per cent of their consumers due to poor customer service. While it is impossible to prevent the churn, businesses can use AI to minimize it and achieve breakthrough results. Leveraging machine learning algorithms helps predict customer churn and analyse the cause. Finding customer pain points is the key step in reducing churn.

Influencing Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour sways due to big and small factors. The entry of new players could also influence customer preferences. Collecting data such as income, gender, age, buying preferences and shopping patterns could help in extending personalised offers and thereby increase sales, customer retention and brand recall. Predictive analysis is especially important in industries such as retail and banking.

Remodelling Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is especially crucial in evolving markets, where those who deliver better quality and services than their competitors seize the market. AI plays an important role in gaining this competitive advantage. Artificial Intelligence helps increase productivity, reduce the cost of production, detecting high-risk areas, predict market trends, promote customer satisfaction, and increase profitability.

Consider the example of a construction company. It initially depended on people’s feedback to identify the issues in construction. Later, it started using drones to shoot the exteriors and interiors, but it still required heavy manpower to watch the video and to identify problems. However, things got better as it adapted AI for this task. Using an object detecting model, it could easily detect damages. Additionally, the company could inspect the energy usage across its buildings and detect anomalies. Thus, it could save manpower, manhours, money and time and increase efficiency.

Building Brand Reputation

AI helps in better targeting and thus, helps develop relevant campaigns and create better touchpoints for prospect customers, existing customers, and partners. This helps in building brand reputation and improve brand recall. AI helps understand the preferences of the individual customer and the technology he/she is interested in, thus helps decide the best channel to push the product/service.

Conclusion

This is the best time to take up a business analyst course as today’s day-to-day business needs are increasingly becoming data-driven and professionals who can analyse data and do predictive analysis will be of high demand. AI is going to find application throughout the business world and hence the demand for business analysts will see an increase soon.

Four Prospects of Business Analyst Certification

The role of business analysts is increasingly becoming important. Every company is looking to hire analysts who are capable of processing data and interpret the information to help the management to make important business decisions and to design competitive market strategies. Thus, the business analyst plays a key role in current business models. Though the role of a business analyst is not to directly bring revenue to the company, this job is essentially designed to help the company reduce market spends and increase revenue. Thus, business analysts do play a role in the financial prospects of the company. However, you need to validate that you possess relevant skills and ace in the newest technology. Business analyst certifications are the best way to convey this to your future employers.

What is the Role of a Business Analyst?

A business analyst is responsible for collecting, analyzing, and authenticating the data and making inferences to suggest changes to the business processes, system, and business policies. Thus, business analysts shoulder the responsibility of driving the growth of the organization, improve efficiency, profitability, and productivity. A business analyst should be capable of:
• Understanding the business concept
• Suggesting ways to improve the existing processes
• Identifying and designing new features
• Guiding implementation
• Measuring the impact of the newly introduced changes and the success rate

Why is Certification Important?

Certification Increases Your Credibility

Stating data analytics skills in a resume would grab the employers’ attention, but how will you validate them? If you have impressive skills and a good work experience to showcase in your resume, certification serves as good objective source to substantiate those skills and experience.

Helps Increase Salary

Investing in a good certification is worth because it helps increase your salary bracket. Pursuing a certification can result in an average of 11% increase in salary. The ROI of certification is high, that you should consider getting good certifications if you are aiming to get into top jobs. However, you should be judicious while selecting the course. Having a certification merely to show in resume will not help. Make sure you choose a reputed certification program that gets you brownie points.

Helps Build a Strong Peer Network

As per the data available from the professional network site LinkedIn, about 85 per cent openings are filled through networking and referrals. So, it is important to have a network of professionals to get into the role you aspire for. Joining certifications will help you to develop a good professional network.

Opens Scope for Self-Improvement

Any job requires constant improvement of the skills to stay relevant in the job market. Certifications help you update on the newest tools and trends in the industry. In a field like big data, which is constantly evolving, staying updated is important. Including a certification in the profile shows your enthusiasm and interest in developing new skills and constantly update. This gives you a competitive edge in the job market.

Conclusion

The scope and future growth prospects are ever-expanding in the domestic and global job market. Today, most business organizations espouse big data analysis to grow the business by processing valuable data. Hence, big data experts can see recruitment spree in the market. However, to make sure you ace the skills, it is important to have a relevant certification. It is natural that after having considerable experience one might overlook the importance of certifications. But you need to know that organizations prefer hiring the best talents available in the market and certifications are the best way to validate that you possess those skills and it is worth hiring you.

Also Read: Benefits of Business Analyst Certification

Big Data And Hadoop – The Career Options! Worthwhile To Explore More!

The importance of Data Analytics was realized when data became the focus of major consulting and research firms across the globe. Some of the major decisions involve data on a daily basis. A career in data analytics is just what these organizations look for in a potential employee.

To be successful in data analytics, there are certainly effective ways:

How do you start a career in data analytics?

Understand the tools of the trade: These tools can be SAS, SQL, R, etc. Knowledge of tools is essentially just a start. You can pick the one that is easily accessible to you at the moment.

Learn to use tricks: You can do this by expanding your professional network with experienced professionals within the organizations you plan to join in the future or reach out to institutions that offer a course in data analytics.

Find your way into data analytics: Grab opportunities within your professional network. Take a course in data analytics – there are several renowned institutions that offer it. At Imarticus Learning, the data analytics course exposes you to real-life business examples through case studies and provides you with reading and learning material along with hands-on learning experience which is just the perfect fit to make a career in data analytics.

How can you learn business analytics?

Many organizations across the globe have witnessed a change in the way data influences their business. Analytics is a powerful tool for decision-making, resolving operational issues and boosting performance, allowing companies to reach their full potential and objectives.

There is an increased demand for data science professionals, and by developing analytical skills, even someone who does not already have a business background, can still learn it.

If you are a graduate, getting an MBA can help you gain relevant skills and solve complex business challenges at the organizations you may work in the future.

Here are some of the most effective ways how you can learn business analytics:

Take up an Online Business Analytics Course

At Imarticus, we offer an ocean of opportunities for learners. Our business analytics online course provides a great way to be job-ready and also become a data-driven decision maker. Our courses can be paused, rewound, and visited whenever you want.

Learn Things Hands-On

With our courses, you can add more to your skill-set by gaining a hands-on experience, all while managing other important demands in your life at your own convenience.

Expand Your Network

Your contacts on your professional network, both offline and online, can help you succeed, gain important skills, and help you perform better. You can contact them and learn new experiences through examples and guidance.

How do you learn big data analytics?

Big Data means collecting huge and complex data which cannot be stored easily and process. Big data can be in the form of interactions from the users’ social media, businesses, and mobile phones or transport systems.

Big Data Analytics is the process of managing these huge data sets from various sources using database management tools or data processing applications to be used by data analysts, and deliver the data products to organizations that run on data for their business.

The biggest challenges are capturing, curating, searching, storing, transfer, sharing, analysing and visualization of the huge data collected from random sources.

For being skilled and knowledgeable in using big data for the right purposes, in the right way, and at the right time, one needs to learn big data analytics. Learners can opt for big data analytics tutorial provided by renowned institutions such as Imarticus Learning, that offer a courses in big data analytics.

Learn Big Data Analytics and HadoopA deep-dive into the world of big data offered at Imarticus Learning teaches you the most fundamental concepts and methods and tools used to effectively manage data in general and on-the-job at organizations which deal with big data every day.

How can you learn Hadoop and Big Data?

The most important challenges that come with Big Data are data quality, discovery, analytics, storage, security, and skill shortage. That is exactly why it is necessary to understand Hadoop and Big Data, and to learn to work with them. Hadoop can handle large data volumes, structured or unstructured. Many organizations that deal with data on a daily basis use Hadoop to run applications which have thousands of terabytes of data.  Hadoop can run on a personal computer too. That’s what makes it a really adaptable and useful tool.

So, how does one attain the skills required to use this amazing tool?

The answer is obvious – Big Data Hadoop Training!

Business Analytics coursesImarticus Learning offers courses in Big Data Analytics, which includes learning several tools used in the process. Through a Big Data Hadoop Training, you can understand the complexities of Hadoop, its components, and learn to use it quickly.

The course covers everything you need if you are planning to start a career in Data Analytics. You will also get a deep insight into how big the Big Data market is, the different employment options, the latest trends, the history of Hadoop, Hive, and Pig.

Can the Hadoop course be completed via online training mode?

Due to the major challenges that arise while using Big Data, like data quality, discovery, analytics, storage, security, and skill shortage, it is necessary to understand how to use Hadoop, and to learn to work with it. Hadoop can help handle large data volumes, whether structured or unstructured. Many organizations that deal with data on a daily basis depend on tools Hadoop to run applications with thousands of terabytes of data.  Hadoop is so adaptable that it can even be used on a personal computer.

So, can one learn Hadoop via online training?

Big Data Online TrainingThe answer is – Big Yes!

In Hyderabad, and multiple locations throughout India, Imarticus Learning offers courses in Big Data Analytics, which includes learning how to use several tools. Imarticus Learning offers Hadoop training in Hyderabad. The course offers a deep-dive into Hadoop. It helps the learners understand the complexities of Hadoop, its components, and learn to use it quickly and effectively.

The course covers everything you need if you are planning to start a career in Data Analytics, specifically concerning Big Data. You will also get a deep insight into how big the Big Data market is, the different employment options, the latest trends, the history of Hadoop, Hive, and Pig.

17 Best Work-from-Home Jobs in India For High Income!

The ongoing COVID-19 situation has already had far-reaching effects on several sectors in India since the first positive cases were reported in early March 2020. Apart from nearly paralyzing the nation’s healthcare system, it has also made a tremendous blow on employment options.

Everyone from the top brass in affected sectors such as logistics and manufacturing to workers in the essential services category are looking for work-from-home jobs. Because personal safety and professional security have become the most important factors.

While some of the current jobs are remote work-friendly, others are not. This calls for a look at the best work-from-home jobs that you can do in India.

Best Work from Home Jobs: 17 Great Ideas

Based on your skillset and exposure, pick one or more of these easy online jobs and start hustling today.

  1. Freelance Writing

A list of the best work-from-home jobs is incomplete without the mention of freelance writing. It is still one of the easiest and most profitable ways to earn money in India. More than anything, there is no capital requirement. You just need a working computer and the ability to compose grammatically-correct sentences to start.

As a freelance writer, you are expected to write content across formats and types. The request can come in for anything: a short guide on online shopping or a long-form journalistic opinion editorial on COVID-19’s effect on India Inc. The pay will also depend on the types and formats apart from the quality that you can deliver.

You can register on sites like Upwork and Freelancer to begin your hunt for such writing jobs that can be done from home.

Earning Potential: INR 100 to INR 2,000 a day.

  1. App Testing

This can either be an entirely technical job suited only for professional app testers or a generic one where an app needs to be tested from a user perspective. In both cases, you can work from home as you just need a working mobile phone and steady access to the internet.

Once you sign up for an app testing project, you will be assigned a mobile app to test for bugs and UI/UX issues. The pay will be dependent on the quality of your assessment as well as the number of bugs you detect.

For generic app testing, you just need to share your objective thoughts about the app. These will be used by the R&D department to fix them and further improve the app.

For more clarity, take the example of Sulekha, a young banker who was told to work part-time from April 2020 as a cost-cutting measure. Today, she uses her free time to tests financial and fintech apps and earns a few thousand every week.

Earning Potential: Up to INR 5,000 per app. Higher for technical testing.

  1. Instagram Management

Even in the age of TikTok, Helo, and Snapchat, image-sharing site Instagram has managed to stay on top. One of the reasons is its huge userbase. People who signed up for it when it launched years ago continue to use it, only helped by Facebook’s subsequent takeover.

Due to this massive activity within its walls, Instagram is still one of the top social platforms in the world. Naturally, it has also caused a spike in demand for profile management professionals.

As an Instagram manager, you will look after your client’s profile – from direct messages (DMs) to caption writing to profile verification to spam control. It is an end-to-end online job where your performance will be measured in how much engagement you can garner.

Although a very competitive field, sites like Upwork and Freelancer have hundreds of job postings every day looking for able Instagram managers.

Earning Potential: Up to INR 50,000 per month.

  1. Essential Food Cook

Local markets are running with low staff, DMart and Big Bazaar have moved to a coupon system and operate only within strict timings, and some food items have almost disappeared from the world. As an aspirant with some culinary skills, you can take advantage of this ‘gap’ in the essential food supply.

This is not an online job where you mimic the tons of online cookery shows that are already present across the web. You just take a leaf out of their textbook and focus on a niche.

Essential foods and nostalgia. No?

The idea is to focus on recipes for essential foods like homemade bread, tawa pulao, and simple biriyani that your viewers can learn from you and try at home. You should try to limit the ingredients to bare essentials so that every household can try them.

Starting a YouTube channel and posting one simple recipe a week with a title like “Simple Lockdown Home Recipe #1 – Veg Fried Rice” should be enough to get going.

Earning Potential: It will be a while before you can earn a part of the advertising revenue from YouTube. But when you do, it can be upwards of INR 10,000 a month if you manage to rack up millions of views.

  1. General Instructor

Think about all the senior citizens of the country. Then think about their haplessness during this coronavirus situation. Does your social working vein tickle with you an idea?

It is to act as a general instructor to those in need. You can be an instructor of anything: online shopping, home exercise, doing taxes, and watching a movie online. The goal is to be a helping hand to aged people and let them lead a normal life in this time of abnormality.

Look out for such people in and around your housing society who may also be afraid to ask for help. A bit of proactiveness is needed on your part to succeed in this remote job.

  1. Financial Assistance

With banks running on low staff and online customer care asking you to hold the line, there is an influx of bank-related and other financial queries from customers. Although the fiscal year has been conveniently shifted by three months, people still need tax planning for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

All these requests are opportunities for you to tackle as an independent contractor. But you will need to be a qualified finance person (with a relevant degree and/or experience) to be able to take up these remote jobs.

You will be expected to get on a video call with your clients and guide them through their requirements. It can be helping them access the I-T website and execute a task or helping them with their mutual funds portfolio.

Earning Potential: INR 500 to INR 5,000 per consultation.

  1. Product Reviewing / Amazon Affiliate Marketing

Another great way to earn money in India is to explore product reviewing as a job. Here you either host a website and publish longform review content there or target ecommerce sites and post your reviews directly on the platforms.

The first option is a long-term strategy and money will start entering your pocket only in the final stages. But if you are looking for quick money, helping agencies and other websites with product reviews is the easy way out. Here you are essentially working as a freelance writer but with a more product-centric approach. You may also need to research the product online and even use it if possible.

Earning Potential: Up to INR 40,000 per month through your own website. INR 500 to INR 1,000 per day when working for other affiliate marketers.

  1. Proofreading and Editing

Similar to the #1 online job on this list, editing work is easy to get. Just sign up on sites like Constant Content, Pepper Content, or QuillBridge, showcase your content editing and proofreading abilities, and land projects.

You will be required to make line editing or rewriting depending upon the type and quality of the content. You can demand a higher price if you have already done similar types of work.

Pro Tip – Cactus Communications is perhaps the best company to start your formal content editing job.

Earning Potential: Up to INR 5,000 a week.

  1. Take an Online Class

Have a skill that is suddenly in great demand these days?

Are you a power user of Microsoft Teams or Zoom? If yes, you can maybe create an online course of the popular video calling app and help managers in the corporate world make optimum use in their virtual workspace.

Tips and tricks around everything are easily available online. Therefore, you will have to make your course unique by giving out special tips and tricks that are not available in the public domain yet. Charging a small fee (a few hundred rupees) will also help you earn on the side.

Earning Potential: INR 100 and upwards per user per session.

  1. Tableau Expert

If there is one data visualization software that is making waves on the web then it is Tableau. It is being used by everyone from scientists to data analysts to project managers to add visualization to their content. Despite its popularity, it is still a skill that is rare in India.

If you are ready to spend some time to educate yourself and get trained online, Tableau can be a great choice. Even after this healthcare crisis is over, you will be reaping its benefits.

Earning Potential: Up to INR 10,000 per deck.

  1. Data Entry Jobs

If you already have a full-time job and are only looking for a side hustle, then a data entry job will be perfect. Just spend a few hours every day working on data transportation and earn money at the end of projects.

The pay will be low but at least it will be a secondary income for you.

  1. Pitch and Write Stories

For the creative person in you, this lockdown period is a great opportunity to write fictional stories and submit them to popular websites. If access to such sites is limited, you can upload your stories on Wattpad and gain some audience.

Who knows how your stories are received by your audience? And who can predict if one of them is not a publisher?

Making money through this activity may be difficult but at the end of it, you will at least have a portfolio to showcase.

  1. Online Tutoring

Schools and colleges are shut in all states and union territories across India. The timing is even more dangerous as students were supposed to appear for their final exams this summer. Exams may or may not happen this year. And in the best-case scenario, most students in and below eighth grade will be automatically pushed to the next level.

However, students will still lose months of education. Parents are anxious but they are occupied with their own work-from-home jobs. What can they do?

They may not think this, but you definitely can. Use your free time to become an online tutor for kids in your circles. Teach arithmetic to the three-year-old kid of your friend’s friend or take English lessons for your cousin’s niece who is in the seventh grade. Whatever you do, just teaching one student for an hour a day can help you earn good money by the time this lockdown is over.

Just make sure that your concepts on the subjects that you take up are clear enough.

Earning Potential: INR 500 to INR 5,000 per month per student.

  1. IT Support

Most people dismiss this as a non-remote work but it is not true. You can still support a business’s network and information technology requirements via videoconferencing and virtual network computing (VNC).

Rohit, for instance, is a senior network engineer at a marketing agency. He not only supports the agency’s 500-member team’s IT requirements but also freelances for a few hours every day. In his second job, he handles server-level work for a 10-member company. This earns him roughly INR 5,000 a week, which is enough to take care of his individual needs (as a bachelor) for an entire month.

Although remote IT work is a physically toiling job, it is extremely rewarding and in-demand.

Earning Potential: INR 5,000 per week and upwards.

  1. Stock Trading

There won’t be a better time to try your hand at stock trading. Whether you choose to do intra-day trading or buy and sell stocks for long-term gains, it can be a fantastic way to earn money. With capital as low as INR 500, you can start this activity as early as today (provided the market hasn’t closed down).

The only thing you need is some expendable money that you can spend as you enter the lucrative world of Sensex and NIFTY50.

Zerodha is a friendly stock trading app that you can explore. It also has an academy to help you with training.

  1. Remote Insurance Agent

Insurance is a funny subject because everyone knows that they need it but they still hesitate to buy one. The good thing right now is that this healthcare emergency has helped some of them understand the importance of health insurance.

As an agent, you can start canvassing health insurance in your circles and earn a commission on each purchase. The easiest way to do this is to contact any insurance provider (LIC, for example) and register yourself as an agent.

Payments are extremely transparent and you can earn as much as you want.

Earning Potential: Commission from 2% to 40% of monthly/annual insurance premium (in Indian rupees).

  1. TikTok Star

This is a unique job that will depend on your creativity. Choose any topic that you like, produce short TikTok videos, and share them across your circles. The higher your popularity and reach the more likes and shares your videos will garner.

Within a short period of time, you can transform into a TikTok star and reap the benefits of the platform’s revenue system.

Make sure your videos have a unique quality in them in order to gain maximum attention. Use your social media strength to promote and market your videos.

The possibilities of earning money online without investment are endless. People in India are known for their unique moneymaking skills. And some of them are listed above.

But don’t limit yourself to these freelance jobs. Assess your own skills, find a relevant job, and begin the journey of remote working today.