How to Develop Healthy Lifestyle Goals

Stress has become common place in our daily lives. It is well known that we put undue pressure on our mental and physical abilities when dealing with our daily affairs. So how can we balance our lifestyles to ensure we stay healthy and live longer?Developing a healthy lifestyle can be quite daunting, as most people feel overstretched and unable to fulfill their overburdened to do list. The few tips below could help you develop a healthy lifestyle for you and your family.Create a PlanTo accomplish anything in life requires a plan and the same applies to developing a healthy lifestyle. It is advisable to write a list of the goals you want to achieve, however simple they may seem. For example ensuring you eat your dinner before 7pm can be part of your plan and a steady step towards your overall achievement. A plan will help you stay focused and keep your goal in mind.Choose Realistic OptionsWhen you write out your healthy lifestyle plan ensure it is realistic. Make sure you take into account your lifestyle, work and family commitments. There is no point scheduling a gym workout into your routine, if you are unable to afford it or make time for it. Look for activities that you will enjoy and can sustain.Plan and PurposeYou should choose a plan that can achieve the goals you set for yourself. If your plan includes stress reduction, an active social life might not be the answer. Working shorter hours or finding time to relax might be the right course of action. The popular healthy lifestyle goals such as exercise and healthy eating should be part of your plan. To achieve these might require you to take initial smaller steps to reach those bigger goals.You can make it happenAny goal cannot be achieved without your participation. You need to commit to your plan; set our weekly goals and you will see gradual changes in your health and lifestyle.Support from family and friends is an essential aspect of changing your lifestyle. Let them know what you want to achieve so they can help you stay on track.Every time you accomplish one of your goals, reward yourself accordingly. Do not overindulge, but choose treats that will compliment your new lifestyle. In no time, these small changes will create a new you.

New Look In Child’s Bedroom Home Improvement Project

Having children is such a wonderful experience for parents. Getting ready for the new baby can become a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. A child’s bedroom home improvement project can be as simple, or as hard as you want it to be. Once you have decorated for the baby and the baby grows up, they will outgrow the baby look room, and you will need to do something different in it. You might feel overwhelmed at not knowing what to do to change the room, and yet not spend a lot of money doing it. There are many ideas that you can do to change the look of the room without spending a lot of money. A child’s bedroom home improvement project might take a little creativity, but you can do it, and for not a large investment too.Once your child goes from baby to toddler or older, you will definitely have to get a larger bed. A child’s bedroom home improvement project will have to include a different bed. The crib has to go, but there are places you can go to get a larger bed for your child without spending a fortune. If you don’t mind garage sales, you can find great buys on newer used items and in some cases, they may be something brand new that was just stored. Garage sales can be a blast. In order to spend less, set a budget and have an idea of what you are looking for. You can find many things in garage sales, that you don’t need, but want, so stick to your list and your budget. A child’s bedroom home improvement project can be very rewarding when finished, and you did all the work.You might want to repaint the room as the starting point of your child’s bedroom home improvement project. There are many color choices these days, along with sample cards that you can take home and place on the wall to use as an example of what the color will look like. While you are in the paint department, you might want to look at some of the wallpaper borders available. They have many choices as well as popular cartoon picks. You can get pictures of cartoon characters that just stick up on the wall. You don’t even have to paste or glue. A child’s bedroom home improvement project can be that simple. If you are decorating a boys room, there are even sports characters that stick on the wall.Make sure if you have the room, to add a desk or table and chairs, with a book shelf in your child’s bedroom home improvement project. Reading is a great thing for kids and the younger you start them out, the better they will do in school. You can pick these items up at garage sales or second hand stores too for little money. In some cases, you might find a good desk that just needs to be refinished. You might be able to pick one up for under ten dollars and once it is finished it could be worth hundreds. Once your child sees the changes you have made, they will be ecstatic. Yes, a child’s bedroom home improvement project can be a little work, but worth all the effort.

Proper Planning For Weight Loss Success

The trite, overused phrase ‘if you fail to plan, you’re really just planning to fail’ could never be more true when it comes to executing a successful weight loss program. The most important place to start is determining how much weight you want to lose in a given time period so you can have realistic goals to shoot for. While many people have in their minds a certain amount they want to lose, it may not be possible in the amount of time they’re willing to diet for. This can be figured by a calculation taken from your body fat percentage. Before starting any weight loss program, get your body fat measured by a qualified professional so you know how much fat you actually need to lose. Once you know this, you can set realistic goals and expectations. For mental and physiological health reasons, do not try dieting for longer than 12-16 weeks at a time. Depending on your muscular tone, physical conditioning, body type and several other factors, you can expect to lose 6-20 pounds of body weight in the first 3-4 weeks of any correctly designed nutrition program. Beyond this, a reasonable goal is to try to lose 2 pounds/week for the remainder of the time.This means a realistic weight loss goal is between 30-40 pounds in a 3-4 month period. If you have 100 lbs. to lose for example, you will need more than one nutrition program to reach this goal. If you need more than one diet program, do not plan on doing one right after another as you will have diminishing returns. For large amounts of weight to lose, string several diet programs together with short breaks in between. For example, if you have to lose 100 lbs., plan on doing so with three 12 week programs spaced 10 days – 2 weeks apart. To accomplish this, take a break from low calorie eating during the down times however continue to eat the food on your diet, just in larger portions. Expect to put on 5-8 pounds in between diet plans and account for this in your overall weight loss strategy. If you need several diets like this to achieve your goals, sketch out the big plan on a one year calendar but only worry about details of each program as you’re getting ready to execute it.Once you’ve decided how long your program will be (or how many programs you may need), the next most important planning step is the actual diet. No matter which guru you choose to follow, the best advice is to write down your eating plan before you start. Do not start your weight loss program without a written map to follow or you will veer off the course. Whether you’re eating three pre-made microwave meals plus a delicious shake, counting points with an app on your phone or following a bite by bite menu, write it down before executing. Writing down your diet menu will take all the guesswork out of what to eat, when and how much. While this step may take some time to accomplish, if your plan is correctly put together with the right foods and quantities, it will nearly guarantee your success.For consistent weight loss, it’s important you eat the same amount of calories each day. Flying by the seat of your pants and eating different foods every day can easily cause erratic calorie intake and make it harder to lose body fat. A written diet plan will ensure your calories stay consistent. This also makes it easier to raise or lower your calories as you need so you can control your weight loss. If you’re eating too many calories and need to cut back, a written diet plan will help you decide which foods (and how much) to reduce. Keeping a written log of your eating will also help you stay mentally strong on your program. If you’re committed to eating only the foods written on your diet plan, this will keep your mind from wandering into craving goodies that will derail your efforts. A good written plan may also serve well as an accurate shopping list. After following your written nutrition plan meticulously for a period of time, you will soon have it memorized but until you do, you should keep it by your side every time you prepare and/or eat a meal.While dieting alone will only net a finite amount of weight loss, you will go much farther by including strenuous exercise in your program. For the greatest amount of fat weight loss, you should include both cardiovascular and strength training as part of your plan. Cardiovascular work should be done for overall physical conditioning but also fat loss. Strength training is a must to preserve lean body mass and improve muscular tone so the end result will be a smaller, more muscular body with improved fitness. Just like a healthy nutrition plan, a good strength training program should also be planned out, however the details do not have to be as meticulous. As long as your strength training program is using progressive resistance over a period of weeks, prioritize balance (so every muscle group gets worked at least 1-2 times/week) and intensity during execution. Cardiovascular training should be performed separately from resistance training if possible, however if scheduling doesn’t permit this it’s fine.Plan cardio work to increase in amounts of overall time over your entire program with 30 minutes being the smallest effective period. For example, week 1, perform a total of 2 hours of cardio; week 2, do 2.5 hours; week 3 do 3 hours total, etc. Depending on your fitness level, you will ultimately reach a cumulative amount of cardio work that will be most effective for your program. For most people this is between 4 and 6 hours/week. Plan your strength training and cardio work on a monthly calendar. This way you can see how much cardio you will need to perform each week. Also use the calendar to plan other important weekly/regular events you can use as motivation to keep going. For example body fat measurements, cheat meals and of course your end date. If you don’t weigh in everyday (or at least every other), schedule an official weigh in every week. Schedule body fat measurements every 2-3 weeks. Planning your weight loss program on a calendar is important so can physically see how much longer you have and also chart progress. It will also let you know of other events you may have to work around (like trips, business dinners, etc.) so you can plan in advance for them and stay on your program.Perhaps the most important part of your diet is the start. If you start soft and half-hearted, you can expect to lose steam, fizzle out quickly and stop before you see the results you want. Plan your weight loss program at least 1-2 weeks in advance of starting. This will give your mind time to prepare for making a big change and committing to it. Several days before opening day, start getting everything ready. This includes making sure your gym membership is up to speed, you have proper apparel for all the working out you’ll be doing, preparing a shopping list and buying all the food you’ll need. If you have trouble with temptations, this time can also be used for getting rid of all the bad, fattening, non-diet food out of their house. Plan your weight loss program correctly ahead of time and the only thing that can derail your efforts is your will power. Anyone can lose 5-10 pounds from simply cutting out sugar, bread or soft drinks for 2-3 weeks, however real weight loss takes planning. If you have more than this to lose, take your time planning ahead and you will be sure to reach your goals!

Doctors Say Florida Health Insurance Mandate Is Necessary

Florida is one of the states that has filed a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act challenging the constitutionality of the mandate to get minimal health coverage. While some politicians seem to think they are experts on how to fix health care, what do physicians have to say about this?In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, physicians say that the FL health insurance mandate and a similar mandate for every state is the only way to expand health care access to the public and keep health care costs from increasing. According to Dr. Edward Miller, dean and CEO of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, policymakers and as well as the judiciary should never lose sight of the patients. The overall health and wellness of patients greatly depends on access to health care. Dr. Miller also says it is very necessary to straighten out the system, and the Florida health care mandate is one key to do that.Miller views the mandate as being critical to halt “free riding” where people who can’t afford Fl health insurance coverage, or even those who can and prefer someone else pay for their care, stop shifting the cost of their health care to someone else. Unpaid medical bills are sometimes mitigated by raising prices for those who are insured. When insurers pay higher prices, they pass the increase in costs back to policyholders in the form of higher premiums. It’s a vicious and apparently unending cycle, but spreading the cost equally across society may be the only way to help. It’s how all other developed nations are doing it.Since trying to ignore that people who can’t afford to see a doctor for low-cost preventive care end up in the emergency room for the most expensive form of health care hasn’t worked for decades, physicians just might have a point. In a report by the Department of Health and Human Resources, uncompensated health care in the U.S. is up to approximately $73 billion, which has resulted in an annual $1,000 increase in insurance premiums. Miller said that the mandate can reduce the uncompensated care level and reduce passing the costs to those of us buying FL health coverage.Florida Health Insurance Went To The United States District CourtJudge Roger Vinson from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the mandate to get health insurance is an “unwarranted intrusion” into the choices made by the people, so why are physicians saying it is warranted?Since the courts are looking into the constitutionality of the mandate, why not look at Amendment 8. Among the first 10 amendments, commonly called the Bill of Rights, the Eighth Amendment says, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” What’s that got to do with health care or health insurance?Research published in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 people die prematurely each year in the United States because they don’t have health insurance. Dr. David Himmelstein is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and one the study’s authors. He says not having health insurance, “means you’re at mortal risk.” How many died from lack of Florida health insurance?The researchers concluded that no health insurance is equivalent to capital punishment after investigating government health surveys from more than 9,000 people between the ages of 17 and 64. Originally, they reviewed survey data from 1986 to 1994 and later followed up with surveys from 1994 through 2000. The data revealed that U.S. citizens who lack health insurance, not convicted criminals, have a 40 percent higher risk of death than people who have health insurance. Is that cruel and unusual punishment inflicted on people never convicted of any crime?When the scientists looked at 2005 census data, they calculated that 44,789 people’s deaths were linked to a lack of health insurance. Since no one lives in a vacuum, a lot more than 44,789 people per year have been forever punished. Consider just one story from CNN Health about a freelance cameraman who didn’t have health insurance.Paul Hannum had a simple stomachache that worried his pregnant fiancée because she said, “He wasn’t a complainer. He’s the type of guy who, if he got a cold, he’ll power through it. I never had known him to complain about anything.”When Hannum’s brother wanted him to go to the hospital, Paul said he couldn’t afford an ER trip with a little girl on the way, but he got worse and worse.By the time he gave up trying to be strong for his unborn daughter, got to the hospital and was admitted to surgery, they couldn’t save him. Paul died at age 45 as much from not having access to medical care as from a ruptured appendix. His daughter, Cameron, never met her father.

A Case For Bilingual Education

According to a 2006 report by the Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Culture, Science and Education in France, “[B]ilingual education based on the mother tongue is the basis for long-term success.” Citing many of the known and accepted benefits of bilingualism and biliteracy, the Committee makes the case that bilingual education should be supported whenever possible, to help minorities retain their native language – and moreover increase their potential for higher levels of academic achievement in the process.Concerns that children who grow up with two languages will either fall behind academically because of it, or are at risk of not mastering either language well, have largely been disproved by research, the committee stated.”The language which is the vehicle of instruction has a crucial role in that command of it is the key to classroom communication and consequently to pupils’ acquisition of knowledge. A great deal of research has confirmed that types of education based on the mother tongue significantly increase the chances of educational success and give better results,” they concluded in their report.What is Bilingual Education?Bilingual education programs teach speakers of other languages academic subjects in their native language while gradually transitioning them into English-only classrooms. The majority of these programs in America teach to native speakers of Spanish, Chinese, or Navajo. Bilingual education is different from ESL because ESL programs are meant only to teach speakers of other languages English, while bilingual education programs are meant to encourage further retention and development of the native language while teaching English, enabling the child to develop fluent bilingualism and biliteracy.What are the benefits of Bilingual Education?Bilingual education teachers generally transition students from the bilingual classroom to the English mainstream classroom over a period of 1-6 years. This can be beneficial for one because it allows the students to continue their own academic advancement while learning the dominant language, whereas students who must learn a language and other academic subjects in that language often fall behind. By teaching children academic subjects in their native language while acquiring English, the students learn the language while continuing to progress academically. Furthermore, they become fluent and literate in both languages.Studies have shown that quality bilingual education can be an effective approach for teaching second language learners. Successful programs have found that developing and maintaining the student’s native language does not interfere with English language acquisition, but instead enhance it.The advantages of bilingualism are not highly debated. Some of the advantages plurilinguals have, cited by the Parliamentary Assembly, include:• An enhanced faculty for creative thinking• More advanced analytical skills and cognitive control of linguistic operations• Greater communicative sensitivity in relation to situational factors• Improved spatial perception, cognitive clarity and analytical skillsFurthermore, bilingual programs encourage the preservation of a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage. Children who are put into English-only schools from a young age will greatly lose their mother tongue and culture unless it is taught and frequently spoken at home – however it is all too common for second and third generation Americans to lose their heritage language.If the benefits of bilingualism are not highly disputed, why is bilingual education highly disputed?Common arguments and sentiments against bilingual education in America include the following:ImmersionThe argument is that if a person is not totally immersed in the new language, they will not learn it – that immigrant children should be totally immersed in the language and therefore be taught entirely in English right away, instead of learning gradually, because they will not learn as well with a gradual approach. Critics of bilingual education often believe that retaining and developing the first language inhibits the child’s ability to learn English. However, bilingual education supporters maintain that retaining the first language will facilitate learning in the second. Opportunities for immersion, moreover, are all around, whereas quality bilingual education opportunities are not.Insufficient mastery of the English languageSome express doubts about the success of bilingual programs in teaching language-minority students mastery of the English language, citing low test scores and poor reading skills in both English and the native language as a result of the programs. However, low scores can be attributed to the child’s social context more than to the effectiveness of bilingual education, according to the 2006 report by the Parliamentary Assembly.Furthermore, according to a 1987 study commission by the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), children in “properly designed” bilingual education programs learn English quickly and meet grade-level standards in English and mathematics in three to five years. The report used data collected from 25 schools in seven California districts to dispute the claim that bilingual programs slow the acquisition of English and keep children out of the mainstream longer.BiasSpanish as well as other minority languages have not historically been valued as highly as they should be due to prejudice and xenophobia. One and two generations back it was not acceptable for immigrants or natives to speak a language other than English in school, and parents did not teach their children for fear they would not excel or that it would hold them back. This prejudice still haunts us today.FearIn 2010 Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) banned Mexican heritage and cultural study in their high schools. They claimed that the courses were teaching Mexican-American children to resent white Americans and encouraging them to want to overthrow the US government. Although the school was seeing rises in academic achievement, the program was teaching minority students about their culture and not the mainstream one, and so the programs were cut. This closely mimics the battle bilingual programs have faced in America as well.Insufficient research
Moreover, it does not help that research on bilingual education presents its own set of problems. “Research on the effectiveness of bilingual education remains in dispute, because program evaluation studies – featuring appropriate comparison groups and random assignment of subjects or controls for pre-existing differences – are extremely difficult to design,” wrote James Crawford, researcher on bilingual education. Crawford, however, maintains that there is strong empirical support that native-language instruction does not inhibit or slow the acquisition of English, and that well-developed skills in the native language are associated with high levels of academic achievement.A 1997 press release from a committee of the National Research Council formed perhaps a more well-rounded conclusion. They stated that political debates over how to teach children with limited English skills have hampered bilingual education research and evaluation efforts. The committee recommended that research focus on identifying a variety of educational approaches that work for children in their communities based on local need and available resources. And indeed this availability of resources can be a major concern when talking about constructing quality bilingual programs, as well as the scarcity and demand for quality bilingual teachers.”In recent years, studies quickly have become politicized by advocacy groups selectively promoting research findings to support their positions,” said Kenji Hakuta, committee chair and professor of education at Stanford University. “Rather than choosing a one-size-fits-all program, the key issue should be identifying those components, backed by solid research findings, that will work in a specific community.”If bilingualism has an educational advantage, why don’t our schools support this advantage?Another often disregarded advantage of bilingual education in America is that native English-speaking children can enroll and acquire a second language. America is known for being one of the least dual-tri lingual countries in the world, with a bias toward English-only, while most other countries in the world teach many languages from a young age. The interesting thing is that most Americans would recognize the benefits of speaking two or more languages, although bilingual education remains a highly debated topic.Bilingual education programs have the potential to help encourage and support plurilingualism in America and ultimately improve our nation academically.”The view that bilingualism or plurilingualism is a burden on pupils is… incorrect – they are assets,” the 2006 Parliamentary Assembly Committee reported. “‘Strong’ bilingual educational models which aim to equip the future adult with real bi/plurilingual proficiency and, in particular, bi-literacy, have many advantages over ‘weak’ models which treat bilingualism as an intermediate stage between mother-tongue monolingualism and official-language monolingualism rather than as an end in itself.”

Options on Financing a Business Via P O Financing and Inventory Financing

It’s a good news/bad news situation at its classic best. Your firm has the ability to receive orders or contracts but you are challenged with restrictions or unavailability of inventory and PO (purchase order) financing. Financing a business based on assets such as inventory and orders in coming has never been more of a challenge in Canada.When we speak to clients we advise there is no one method that seems to handle all inventory and P O finance challenges. But the good news is that via a variety of effective business financing tools you can employ you are in a position to generate working capital and cash flow from these two asset categories. Let’s examine some real world strategies that have made sense for clients.The root of the problem is simply, you have orders and contracts, but those will potentially be lost to a competitor. Conventional wisdom is that you go to your bank and ask for financing to support inventory and purchase orders. As you may have experienced, we aren’t big believers in conventional wisdom on that matter!However, utilizing a convention purchase order funding source does allow you to purchase product and get your suppliers paid, thus facilitating you ability to deliver to your customers.One of the main benefits that many clients don’t realize is that inventory financing and P O financing don’t necessarily require your firm to have a long or strong credit history; the focus on structuring the transaction is around the inventory being financing and the general credit worthiness of your client, who will be paying yourself or the inventory or P O financing firmThe overall process is fairly simply and easy to understand when it comes to putting the transaction together successfully. On receipt of your confirmed purchase order your supplier is paid via cash or a letter of credit. Your firm of course completes final shipment of the product, which typically involves some additional time on your firms part. On shipment and of course payment from your customer the transaction is in effect settled. In a true pure po financing scenario the P O funder is paid immediately on your invoicing of the product. That is facilitated by your firm selling the receivable via a factoring type transaction as soon as you have generated the invoice.There are always limitations to this type of financing – so things we look for early in the transaction are the ultimate remarket ability of your product in case there is a transaction risk. Naturally, as we stated, the overall credit worthiness of your customer is key, his receipt of goods and payment in effect closes the transaction.Inventory financing and PO financing are generally more expensive than traditional financing, due mainly to the significant transaction risk that the lender takes. Therefore we strong recommend that your firm has solid gross margins in the 25% range to cover the associated costs of a po financing, inventory financing transaction that also factors in the time it takes to get paid by your client, as that typically adds 30-60 days on to the whole cycle of the transaction.If there is one great tip of ‘ secret’ that we share with clients its simply that the best method of ensuring financing in the manner we have outlined is to consider an asset based line of credit. Coupled with a facility that will finance your purchase orders this is the ultimate working capital tool that will allow you to grow business quickly and significantly. This type of facility is generally a non bank facility and is offered by independent finance firms.Speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who will assist you putting together a working capital and cash flow solution that works!

Nature Landscape Photography For Beginners

It does not matter if you want to start with landscape photography as a hobby or as profession, there are beginners tips for everyone. If you want to learn the skills and the different techniques you need for landscape or nature photography you can read about it online, buy a book about the subject, follow a class in a community center or go to a photographer’s course organized by a nature or wildlife organization. In this article we look at a few things to consider before you make a choice about the best option for you.Types of nature photographyThere are a few different types of photography that you can consider to learn:Fine art Nature Photography
Wildlife nature photography
Nature landscape photography
Documentary nature photography
Close up nature PhotographyEquipment needed for nature photographyIt does matter what type of nature photography you are going to learn first to know what type of equipment you need but when you are just beginning as a hobby all you really need to get started is a proper camera.If you want to photograph wildlife you need a lens that will zoom in at least three times to start with so that the wildlife will not be scared off if you approach it.For close up photography you need a special lens or feature on your camera that can do that. But there are other features of cameras that are used in nature photography that are useful but you only need to buy them if you are sure you want to do more and better nature landscape photographing.Advanced Equipment for Photographing Nature and LandscapesAs a beginner a zoom of three times is adequate but a better option is to have a telephoto lens so that you can make shots from far away and it still looks like you where standing right in front of the object you photographed. Another useful piece of equipment for nature landscape photography is a tripod because this type of photography often requires long periods of waiting before you have the right light, or the animal or insect comes to the right spot can take a wile. And then its difficult to keep still and hold the camera.CoursesThere are a lot of courses in nature photography you can take that will teach you the basics and take you on a real life practicum. They are a great opportunity for the beginning nature photographer. They will also teach you utilizing natural lighting to provide specific looks and shots in landscape photography.If you are a bit more experienced you can also follow classes with a nature and wildlife organization. Especially people who are interested in certain birds and animals in nature, can learn all lot on these courses. For example there are many different techniques you can use for taking pictures of birds in their natural habitat and also for shooting pictures of landscapes at certain times of the day to get special effects. As you can see there is a lot you can learn about nature landscape photography.

Small Business Should Invest in Big Data and Analytics

Big data refers to huge volumes of structured and unstructured data; however, processing such massive volumes of data via traditional data management tools is inefficient and impossible. To understand big data you have to realize the devices that are collecting it today e.g. bar code scanners, mobile cameras, CCTV cameras, motion sensors, smoke alarms, web analytical tools, CRMs, etc. From the examples, you can see that these devices collect a vast array of data types hence the structured and unstructured part in the definition. The sheer velocity at which the data is being produced cannot be controlled and processed using traditional methods and tools.However, the use of big data and incorporation of big data analytical technology gives businesses the competitive edge over their competitors.Big Data and Small BusinessesIt is only a thing of the past when terms like big data and business intelligence were associated with large enterprises only. Today, small businesses have to leverage the data they are collecting in order to remain a part of the competition. For years, cost has remained the main reason why small businesses did not adopt big data analytical technologies, but this has changed now. There are budget-friendly tools available for small businesses to take advantage of the data they are collecting today. According to some experts, small businesses can take better advantage of big data since they are able to make the necessary changes far more quickly than large enterprises i.e. real-time response to insights from available data.According to an IDG study in 2016, 78% of the large enterprises agree that big data strategy has the power to change how businesses have always operated. This shows the acceptance of big data technology and strategies for large enterprises and strengthens the fact that small businesses could become irrelevant if they did not adopt the same strategies.Benefits of Large Data AnalyticsLarge Data and Big Companies, a report by IIA Director of Research, Tom Davenport, reveals that businesses are benefitting greatly from big data analytics especially in improving their products, making business decisions faster and reducing costs. Here are some ways small businesses can benefit from big data.• Cost SavingsThe upfront cost of implementing large data tools and strategies is high undoubtedly, but the long term benefits of doing so are matchless. The healthcare industry is a great example of how the use of large data can help businesses reduce their costs regardless of their size. Using predictive analytics, Medicare and Medicaid Services forestalled more than $210 million fraud in healthcare with just 2 years of utilizing the aforementioned technology.In addition to preventing frauds, small businesses can also reduce their costs by steering clear of creating more inventory than needed, including better partners in the supply chain, etc.• Improved Decision MakingThis is the biggest benefit of large data. It allows businesses to expedite decision making by processing the data fast and giving insights in timely manner. In the past, business decisions were reserved for future strategies in the light of available data and the trends that were observed in it. The amount of data that businesses are sitting on today is huge and thus more powerful insights are to be gained from it.This vast amount of data requires the use of modern big data hardware technologies. Once both the things are in place for a business, they can understand customers better, create products that are a closer reflection of what customers want and develop a brand based on most reverenced values.• Impenetrable SecurityBusinesses are more focused today on using large data to improve their core capabilities, but less attended to a more serious concerns i.e. cyber threats and security breaches. Almost every small, medium and large business is connected to the internet today. Moreover, the Internet of Things has broadened the attackable security surface for businesses making it easier for cyber criminals to attack networks and penetrate company databases.The biggest concern for modern businesses is that they have to “respond” to cyber attacks that have already occurred rather than being able to prevent them from occurring. The use of big data and big data analytical tools can be a game changer in this area allowing businesses to prevent any security attacks way before they are executed.Key Technologies Helping Businesses Make the Best of Big DataAs a small business, you will have to familiarize with various technologies that help you store, analyze and take action on big data. Here are some important ones:• HadoopIt’s a framework supporting the storing of large amounts of data using an open-source approach. Once data is stored, Hadoop enables the use of a variety of applications using “clustered hardware” at its base. Due to the cluster of commodity hardware, it becomes possible and easy for businesses to process big data despite its increasing volume.• Data MiningThis is the technology that enables business owners to capture insights, patterns and trends from big data that otherwise cannot be obtained with a traditional approach. Data mining is what allows you to jump in a large sea of structured and unstructured data, make sense of it all and produce analytical insights that help businesses with real-time and future decisions.• Predictive AnalyticsPredictive analytics walk side by side with data mining. Artificial is at the heart of predictive analytics, enabling business owners to adjust their present strategies by giving predictions about what will transpire for the business based on existing data.• Text Analysis and MiningOne huge concern for modern business is to analyze the noise on various web platforms such as forums, blogs, social networks, etc. to understand what customers expect from a particular brand. Finding out about brand mentions and understanding customer’s impression of your brand can help you readjust your marketing approach to gain customer loyalty. Text mining helps small to large sized businesses go through text data from emails, blog posts, social networks, etc. and hear customers “voice”.With the rise of smartphones, artificial intelligence and IoT (internet of things) it has become clearly visible that businesses will now have to handle mountains and mountains of data, and make use of big data analytical and processing technologies to have the competitive edge.czo