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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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How Saving Private Ryan Influenced Medal of Honor and Changed Gaming

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The legacies of Medal of Honor and Saving Private Ryan have gone in wildly different directions since the late ’90s. The latter is still thought of as one of the most influential and memorable movies ever made. The former is sometimes referred to as a “Did You Know?” piece of Call of Duty‘s history or maybe just proof the PS1 had a couple of good first-person shooters.

It wasn’t always that way, though. There was a time when the fates of Medal of Honor and Saving Private Ryan seemed destined to be forever intertwined. After all, Medal of Honor was essentially pitched as the game that would do to WW2 games what Saving Private Ryan did for WW2 films.

That never quite happened, but the ways that the fates of those two projects began, diverged, met, and ultimately split helped shape the future of gaming in ways you may may not know about.

Steven Spielberg’s Son and GoldenEye 007 Change the Fate of the WW2 Shooter

In case Ready Player One didn’t make it clear, Steven Spielberg has always loved video games. While you’d think that the reception to 1982’s E.T. for the Atari (a game so bad that millions of unsold copies were infamously buried in a landfill) would have soured him on the format, Spielberg remained convinced that gaming was going to play a big role in the future of storytelling and entertainment. Spielberg even co-wrote a sometimes overlooked 1995 LucasArts adventure game called The Dig.

It was around that same time that Spielberg also expressed his interest in making a video game based on his fascination with WW2. In fact, in the early ‘90s, designer Noah Falstein started working on a WW2 game after a conversation with Spielberg reportedly piqued his own interest in that idea.

The project (which was known as both Normandy Beach and Beach Ball at the time) was fascinating. It would have followed two brothers participating in the D-Day invasion: one on the beaches of Normandy and one who was dropping in behind enemy lines. Players would have swapped between the two brothers (try to push aside any Rick and Morty jokes for the moment) as they fought through the war and finally saw each other again.

It was a great idea, but when Falstein took it to DreamWorks Interactive (the gaming division of the DreamWorks film studio that Spielberg co-owned), he was surprised to be greeted with a cold shoulder. It seems that the DreamWorks Interactive team felt it would be hard to sell a game to kids that was based on a historical event as old as WW2. Work on the project quietly ended months after it had begun.

While it’s probably wild to think of a game designer that had a hard time pitching a WW2 game in the ‘90s, you have to remember that widespread cultural interest in WW2 at that time was still fairly low. There were WW2 games released prior to that point, but most of them either made passing references to the era (such as Wolfenstein) or were hardcore strategy titles typically aimed at an older audience. Most studios believed that kids wanted sci-fi and fantasy action games, and many of them weren’t willing to invest heavily on the chance they were wrong.

Spielberg shared that concern, but he saw it slightly differently. As someone who believed that WW2 was this event that shaped the generation that lived through it and those that came after, he felt this desire to inform people of the war’s impact and intrigue through the considerable means and talent available to him. That strategy obviously included Saving Private Ryan, but he was especially interested in reaching that same young audience that DWI felt would largely ignore a WW2 game.

Legend has it that a lightbulb went off in Spielberg’s head as he watched his son play GoldenEye 007 for N64. Intrigued by both his son’s fascination with that shooter, and the clear advances in video game technology it represented, he took time away from Saving Private Ryan’s post-production process, visited the DWI team, and told them that he wanted to see a concept for a WW2 first-person shooter set in Europe and named after the Medal of Honor. If the team wasn’t stunned yet, they certainly would be when Spielberg told them that they had one week to show him a demo.

Doubtful that they could produce a compelling demo in such a short amount of time, doubtful the PS1 could handle such an ambitious FPS concept, and still very much doubtful that gamers wanted to play a WW2 shooter, the team reworked the engine for the recent The Lost World: Jurassic Park PlayStation game and used it as the basis for what was later described as a shoestring proof of concept.

It may have been pieced together, but what DWI came up with was enough to excite Spielberg and, more importantly, excite the game’s developers. Suddenly, people were starting to buy into the idea that this whole thing could work and was very much worth doing. As the calendar turned to 1998 and Saving Private Ryan became a blockbuster that was also changing the conversation about World War 2, it suddenly felt like the DWI team might just have a hit on their hands.

Unfortunately, not everyone was on board with the idea, and those doubts would soon change the trajectory of the game.

Columbine and Veteran Concerns Force Medal of Honor to Move Away from Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan was widely praised for its brutal authenticity that effectively conveyed the horrors of war, as well as its technical accomplishments that changed the way films are made and talked about. At first, it seemed like the Medal of Honor team intended to attempt to recreate both of those elements.

On the technical side of things, the developers were succeeding in ways that their makeshift demo barely suggested was possible. While the team was right that developing an FPS on PlayStation meant working around certain restrictions (they couldn’t get daytime levels to look right so everything in the original game happens at night), the PlayStation proved to be remarkably capable in other ways. Because the team was limited from a purely visual perspective, they decided to focus on character animations and AI in order to “sell” the world.

While they’re easy to overlook now, the original Medal of Honor did things with enemy AI that few gamers had seen at the time. Enemies reacted to being shot in ways that suggested they were more than just bullet sponges. They’d drop their weapons, lose their helmets, scramble for cover…it all contributed to the sensation of battling actual humans. Well, not actual humans but rather Nazis. In fact, the thrill of feeling every bullet you fired at Nazis was one of the things that excited the team early on. Both developers and players fondly recall being able to do things like make a dog fetch a grenade and take it back to his handler to this day.

Just as it was in Saving Private Ryan, sound design was a key part of what made Medal of Honor work. Everything ricocheted and responded with a level of authenticity that perfectly complemented the film-like orchestral score that they had commissioned from game composer Michael Giacchino. The quality of the game’s sound is partially attributed to the contributions of Captain Dale Dye who helped ensure the authenticity of Saving Private Ryan and did the same for Medal of Honor. Initially, Dye was doubtful the game could be on the same level as the film.

Actually, Dye’s feedback was one of the earliest indications that some veterans were going to be very apprehensive of the idea of turning war into a video game like Medal of Honor. Dye eventually saw that their intentions were good, but the team soon received another wake-up call when Paul Bucha, a Medal of Honor recipient and then-president of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, wrote a letter to Steven Spielberg that essentially shamed him for his involvement with the game and demanded that he remove the Medal of Honor name from the project. At that point in development, such a change could have meant the project’s cancellation.

That wasn’t the only problem that suddenly emerged. In April 1999 (six months before Medal of Honor’s release), the Columbine High School massacre occurred and changed the conversation about violence in entertainment (especially video games). Reports indicate that Medal of Honor was, at that time, a particularly violent video game clearly modeled after the brutality of Saving Private Ryan that also featured an almost comical level of blood that some who saw the early versions of the title compared to The Evil Dead. Suddenly, the team felt apprehensive of what they had been going for.

These events and concerns essentially encouraged the Medal of Honor team to step away from Saving Private Ryan a bit and focus on a few different things that would go on to separate the game from the film it was spiritually based on.

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Audrey Hepburn: The Secret WW2 History of a Dutch Resistance Spy

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Medal of Honor: A Different Kind of War Game

It was easy enough to cut Medal of Honor’s violence (or at least its gore), but when it came to addressing concerns of the game’s commercialization and gamification of war and the experience of soldiers, the team found some more creative solutions.

For instance, you may notice that the original Medal of Honor is a much more “low-key” shooter and WW2 game compared to other titles at the time and those that would follow. Well, part of that tone was based on Spielberg’s desire to have the game tell more of a story through gameplay than other shooters had done up until that point (an innovation in and of itself), but a lot of that comes from the input of Dale Dye.

As Dye taught the team what it was like to be a soldier and serve during WW2, they gained a perspective that they felt the need to share. This is part of the reason why Medal of Honor features a lot of text and cutscene segments designed to teach parts of the history of the war that would have otherwise likely been left on the cutting room floor. There’s a documentary feel to that title that you still don’t see in a lot of period-specific games.

That decision may have also helped saved Medal of Honor in the long run. When Bucha raised his concerns about the project, the team took them seriously enough to consider canceling the game just months before its release. However, producer Peter Hirschmann extended an invite to Bucha so that he could see what exactly it was that they were working on.

It was a bold move that proved to pay off as Bucha was so impressed with the game’s direction (a direction that changed drastically in development) that he actually ended up officially supporting the title. Maybe it wasn’t as grand and impactful as Saving Private Ryan, but he saw the team was doing something that was so much more than just a high score and gore.

Medal of Honor proved to be a hit in 1999, but the celebration was impacted by the news that DWI had been sold to EA. The good news was that most of the key members of the DWI team were able to stay together to work on 2000’s Medal of Honor: Underground: a criminally overlooked game that told a brilliant story about a French Resistance fighter modeled after the legendary Hélène Deschamps Adams. That game advanced the unique style of the original game and retained its quality. I highly recommend you play it if you’ve never done so.

Soon, though, everything would change in a way that brought the series directly back to Saving Private Ryan in ways that are stil being felt to this day.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – The (Mostly) Unofficial Saving Private Ryan Game

EA decided to continue the Medal of Honor series but without the old Medal of Honor team at the helm. The story goes that they initially asked id Software to develop the next Medal of Honor game, but the id team said they were too busy and instead recommended they ask a studio called 2015 Games to further the franchise.

Never heard of them? I’m not surprised. The team’s previous work hadn’t set the world on fire, but EA took id’s recommendation to heart and asked the young developers to start working on what would become 2002’s Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.

It’s funny, but for such an important game, we really don’t know a lot about the details of Allied Assault’s development. It’s been said that the game’s development was pretty rough (the young team apparently struggled to combine their separate ideas under one creative vision), and we also know that they contacted Dale Dye for authenticity input just as the DWI team had done.

What we don’t exactly know is why Allied Assault was designed to so closely resemble Saving Private Ryan.

It’s easy to assume that the developers were just big fans of the movie (who wasn’t back then?), but there are elements of Allied Assault that are essentially pulled directly from the movie. A lot of the dialog is slightly reworked Saving Private Ryan lines, some of the characters are carbon copies of the film’s leads, and certain missions are pulled directly from the most memorable events of the movie.

The most famous example of that last point has to be the game’s infamous beach assault mission. At times nearly a 1-1 recreation of Saving Private Ryan’s opening scene, some people believe to this day that the game actually starts with that mission just as the movie began with a similar sequence. While 2003’s Medal of Honor: Frontline (which borrowed heavily from Allied Assault despite being developed by a different team) did start with a Normandy Beach invasion, that sequence doesn’t happen in Allied Assault until you reach the third mission.

Regardless, it’s the part of the game everyone seems to remember all these years later. Objectively a technical accomplishment that recreated the sensation of watching Saving Private Ryan’s infamous opener in a way that nothing else really had, that beach sequence also stood in direct contrast to much of the game that came before it. The early parts of Allied Assault were a little quieter and modeled more after the “adventure/espionage” style of the original games in the series. From that point though, Allied Assault essentially served as a Saving Private Ryan video game. One of the game’s final missions even nearly recreates the sniping sequence from the finale of that film.

It’s almost like the 2015 Games team was working on a “one for you, one for me” program. Here’s more of the Medal of Honor that came before, but here’s this absolutely intense action game that not only recalls Saving Private Ryan but in some ways directly challenges it. At a time when movie studios were still looking for sequences that would rival Normandy, the Allied Assault team used that sequence as the basis for a compelling argument that gaming was more than ready to match and perhaps surpass the most intense moments in film history.

The idea that 2015 was going rogue a bit with their ambitions may be supported by the fact that EA eventually decided all future Medal of Honor games would be developed in-house. This came as a shock to the 2015 Games team who felt they did a fantastic job and were practically drowning in accolades at that time.

Desperate to stay afloat, the 2015 team put a call out to studios to let them know that most of the people responsible for one of 2002’s best games (and a shooter some called the best since Half-Life) were ready and able to continue their work under a different name.

Activision ended up answering their call, and that project became 2003’s Call of Duty. Before Call of Duty went on to become one of the most successful and profitable franchises in video game history, it was this brilliant single-player focused WW2 shooter made by a studio then known as Infinity Ward. Almost every one of that game’s levels was on the level of that infamous beach sequence from Allied Assault. Infinity Ward’s ability to consistently deliver that kind of intensity set a new standard that some will tell you has never been truly surpassed.

The story of what happened to Medal of Honor is a touch sadder.

Medal of Honor’s Complicated Legacy and Saving Private Ryan’s Lasting Influence

While 2002’s Medal of Honor: Frontline was called the game of the year by many outlets, subsequent games in the series garnered decidedly more mixed receptions. 2003’s Medal of Honor: Rising Sun was no match for Call of Duty, just as 2004 ‘s Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault couldn’t hold a candle to Call of Duty 2 in the minds of many. As time went on, the Medal of Honor franchise attempted to mimic Call of Duty in more and more overt ways. The results could generously be described as mixed.

For a series that started out with a direct line to Saving Private Ryan, it’s a little ironic that Medal of Honor was eventually defined and defeated by a studio that was more willing to directly embrace that movie’s style, story, and best moments. Perhaps, the early Medal of Honor games weren’t in the best position to emulate Saving Private Ryan so directly from a technological and content standpoint, but there’s something sad about the ways that Medal of Honor initially tried to distinguish itself as more than a Saving Private Ryan adaptation have been lost slightly in favor of simply walking the path forged by one of the most influential films of the last 25 years. Allied Assault and the early Call of Duty games deserve the praise they’ve received, but it’s hard not to wonder what might have been if more games looked at how Medal of Honor initially distinguished itself and went for something different.

But even fallen (or mostly fallen) franchises can leave a lasting legacy. As far as Medal of Honor goes, nobody summarized its legacy quite so elegantly as Max Spielberg: the kid whose GoldenEye sessions helped inspire the development of the first Medal of Honor game.

“Medal of Honor is one of the few great marriages of game and film,” said Spielberg. “It was that first rickety bridge built between the silver screen and the home console.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Maybe the first Medal of Honor games didn’t exactly recreate Saving Private Ryan, but they aimed for that level of success in a way that most studios would have never dreamed of. There are times when it’s easy to take for granted how video games can make the best movies come to life. What we should never forget are the contributions of the developers who turned our whispers of “Could you imagine playing a game that looks like that?” that we hoped wouldn’t echo in a crowded theater into the games we know and love today.

The post How Saving Private Ryan Influenced Medal of Honor and Changed Gaming appeared first on Den of Geek.

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ezatluba · 4 years ago

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Face recognition isn't just for humans — it's learning to identify bears and cows, too

By Rachel Metz

November 22, 2020

It's hard for the average person to tell Dani, Lenore, and Bella apart: They all sport fashionably fuzzy brown coats and enjoy a lot of the same activities, like playing in icy-cold water and, occasionally, ripping apart a freshly caught fish.

Melanie Clapham is not the average person. As a bear biologist, she has spent over a decade studying these grizzly bears, who live in Knight Inlet in British Columbia, Canada, and developed a sense for who is who by paying attention to little things that make them different."I use individual characteristics — say, one bear has a nick in its ear or a scar on the nose," she said.

But Clapham knows most people don't have her eye for detail, and the bears' appearances change dramatically over the course of a year — such as when they get winter coats and fatten up before denning — which makes it even harder to distinguish between, say, Toffee and Blonde Teddy. Tracking individual bears is important, she explained, because it can help with research and conservation of the species; knowing which bear is which could even help with problems like figuring out if a certain grizzly is getting into garbage cans or attacking a farmer's livestock. Several years ago Clapham began wondering whether a technology typically used to identify humans might be able to help: facial recognition software, which compares measurements between different facial features in one image to those in another.

Clapham teamed up with two Silicon Valley-based tech workers and together they created BearID, which uses facial-recognition software to monitor grizzly bears. So far, the project has used AI to recognize 132 of the animals individually. While facial-recognition technology known as a tool for identifying humans — and a controversial one at that, due to well-known issues regarding privacy, accuracy, and bias — BearID is one of several efforts to adapt it for animals in the wild and on farms. Proponents of the technology, such as Clapham, say it's a cheaper, longer-lasting, less invasive (and with animals such as bears, less dangerous) way to track animals than, say, attaching a collar or piercing an ear to attach an RFID tag.

Building a grizzly data setFor Clapham, who's also a postdoctoral fellow at the Unversity of Victoria, this interest in combining bears and AI has been in the works for years. In 2017 she joined Wildlabs.net, which connects conservationists with those in the tech community. There, she quickly met Ed Miller and Mary Nguyen — two tech workers in San Jose, California (who happen to be married) who were interested in machine learning and watching grizzlies via live webcam at another popular bear hangout, Brooks Falls in Alaska's Katmai National Park.

The trio has since gathered thousands of bear photos from Knight Inlet and Brooks River to create data sets, and adapted existing artificial intelligence software called Dog Hipsterizer (used, naturally, to add silly mustaches and hats to pictures of dogs) to spot bear faces in their images. Once the faces are detected, they can also use AI to recognize specific bears. "It does way better than we do," said Miller. So far, BearID has collected 4,674 images of grizzly bears; 80% of the images were used for training the facial-recognition system, Clapham said, and the remaining 20% for testing it. According to recently-published research from her and her collaborators, the system is 84% accurate. The bear you're trying to recognize must already be in the group's relatively small dataset, though.

So far, BearID has collected 4,674 images of grizzly bears.

Facial recognition on the ranchWhile BearID is putting names to faces in the wild, Joe Hoagland is trying to do likewise on cattle ranches. Hoagland, a cattle rancher in Leavenworth, Kansas, is building an app called CattleTracs that he said will enable anyone to snap pictures of cattle that will be stored along with GPS coordinates and the date of the photo in an online database. Subsequent photos of the same animal will be able to matched to the earlier photographs, helping track them over time. Beef cattle, he explained, pass through many different people and places during their lives, from producers to pasture operations to feed lots and then to meat packing plants. There isn't much tracking between them, which makes it hard to investigate problems like animal-based diseases that can devastate livestock and may harm people, too. Hoagland expects the app to be available by the end of the year."Being able to trace that diseased animal, find its source, quarantine it, do contact tracing — all the things we're talking about with coronavirus are things we can do with animals, too," he said.

CattleTracs, an upcoming app for monitoring cattle, uses facial recognition technology to tell the animals apart.

Hoagland approached KC Olson, a professor at Kansas State University, who brought together a group of specialists at the school in areas like veterinary science and computer science in order to gather pictures of cattle to create a database for training and testing an AI system. They built a proof-of-concept system in March that included more than 135,000 images of 1,000 young beef cattle; Olson said it was 94% accurate at identifying animals, whether or not it had seen them before.

He said that's far better than what he's seen with RFID tags and readers, which can work poorly when cattle are densely packed."This is a major leap forward in accuracy," he said.

Gold for poachersAlthough facial recognition for animals isn't fraught with the same privacy, bias, and surveillance issues as it is for people, there are unique issues to consider.

For example, while surveillance technology could help protect animals, it may also be used against them. Tanya Berger-Wolf, co-founder and director of Wildbook.org, which is an AI platform for wildlife research projects, stressed the importance of controlling access to animal data to those who have been vetted.

"What's great for scientists and conservation managers is also gold for poachers of wildlife," she said.

That's because a poacher could use images of animals, coupled with data such as GPS coordinates that may be attached to the photos, to find them.

There's also the difficulty of collecting a large number of images of individual animals — from multiple viewpoints, in different lighting conditions, without obstructions like plants, taken repeatedly over time — to train AI networks. Anil Jain, a computer science professor at Michigan State University, knows this better than most: He and his colleagues studied how facial-recognition software could be used to identify lemurs, golden monkeys, and chimpanzees — the hope was to help track endangered animals and halt animal trafficking. They released an Android smartphone app in 2018 called PrimID that let users compare their own primate photos to ones in their database.

BearID software spots the face of a bear in an image.

Jain, who is no longer working on that project, said gathering sufficient animal photos was particularly tricky — especially with lemurs, who may bunch together in a tree. Facial-recognition networks for humans, he noted, may be trained with millions of photos of hundreds of thousands of people; BearID has relied upon just a fraction as many so far, as did Jain's research.

Clapham said she has more images of some bears than others, so her team is trying to get more of the bears that are less represented in the dataset. The researchers also want to stfart training their AI system on footage from camera traps, which are cameras equipped with a sensor and lights and placed in the wilderness where animals may wander by and trigger video recordings. They're considering how BearID could go beyond bears to other animals as well."Really any species we can get good training data for we should potentially be able to develop this type of facial recognition for as well," Clapham said.

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batq3techstuff · 5 years ago

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Leveraging Enterprise Digital Transformation with Technology

The Indian market is gradually maturing towards adopting cutting-edge IT solutions, and technologies as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning is here to stay and evolve. There are several applications which involves such technologies finds usage in the fields of camera vision, facial recognition and object identification, augmented analytics with the help of trends and behavioral patterns and predictive modelling, will find their way and exist in the long run, in several government pet policies, asserted Anuj Mathur, CEO, Q3 Technologies in a conversation with Poulami Chakraborty of BW SmartCities. Excerpts below:

Having catered to the enterprise sector, what has been your observation about the Indian market’s trends for IT adaptation in the enterprise sector?

We have seen tremendous adoption of IT in the Indian enterprise sector over the last decade led with what has primarily been a mobile-first strategy. If we look back about two decades, India was lagging quite heavily in this space compared to Western economies where various IT solutions especially ERP, SCM and enterprise IT solutions were implemented on a large scale.

All of that changed with the advent of initially the web and more significantly the smartphones. The rapid adoption of smartphones triggered an equally robust adoption of IT in the enterprise sector. This is also reflected in the fact that while a decade ago, our entire customer-base was outside India, today we have a much healthier 50-50 mix of Indian and Foreign clients. Q3 Technologies is doing some amazing cutting-edge work in the Indian enterprise segment with AI, ML, IoT, Chatbots, Automation, and BI-Analytics.

How is automation molding the Indian market trends according to you? Do you believe it is beneficial? Your views.

I see an aggressive push from CIOs of large Indian enterprises for automation, and that is hugely beneficial for the sector at large.

While the primary drivers for automation in the more advanced economies of the world have typically been workforce and cost-reduction related, Indian CIOs are looking at it more from the point of view of increasing productivity, enhancing efficiency and improving customer experience. The market trends therefore also reflect automation adoption in areas where employee efficiency and productivity increase can be realized. Our approach for automation is to start with a Proof of Concept (POC) for the customer, which helps in realizing the potential ROI and creates customer confidence.

Blockchain has evolved drastically in the past 5 years? Do you think that the Indian market is ready for adaptation to such a high-end tech-solution? What future do you foresee for blockchains in India?

While a number of pilots and POCs are already in the works, for India to adopt blockchain technology at scale, it will need a regulatory structure and government support. Along these lines, NITI Aayog, co-hosted the International Blockchain Congress (biggest blockchain conference in Asia) last year. Events such as these will eventually lay the groundwork for blockchain adoption in the country.

Having said this, blockchain has the potential to be a revolutionary technology which will eventually lead to a paradigm shift in virtually all industries including Retail, Banking, Healthcare, Education, Logistics, Real Estate, and Governance. Indian customers are slowly treading the path of Blockchain adoption with smaller simpler “blockchain-inspired solutions” to understand its applicability and scale.

Your views about Data Protection Bill?

India is very rapidly moving towards becoming a digital economy, and thus the Data Protection Bill allowing rightful and lawful possession and processing of data is a key to get us there. I think it is an excellent initiative at calling out data protection obligations while drawing on learnings from global privacy regimes and trying to remedy some of the issues. It lays down key provisions to promote transparency and hold data fiduciaries/organizations accountable for their actions. The Bill’s mandate on data localization will help Indian software services companies in the long term

How beneficial do you think AI and ML for the Indian market? Which segments of operations do you feel has the need for these technologies more?

As the Indian market is gradually maturing towards adopting cutting-edge IT solutions, AI-ML is here to stay and evolve. It has several applications in the Indian market – many of which we are actively working with our clients. These applications are in the fields of camera vision, facial recognition and object identification, augmented analytics with the help of trends and behavioral patterns and predictive modeling (for e.g., with respect to sales and inventory forecasting and equipment maintenance and fault prevention). Another area where AI and ML are being extensively used is in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and the use of bots and chatbots.

The use of advanced digital technologies like AI and ML are allowing Indian companies to compete and win in the global marketplace.

What challenges do you come across while operating in India? How are you mitigating them?

To my mind, we do not come across any India-specific challenges that are fundamentally different from operating anywhere else in the world. Every country provides some opportunities and some challenges and we put in plans to mitigate those challenges as part of our business strategy. In fact, the overall support from the regulatory standpoint has improved drastically in the last couple of years, thus helping the Indian IT industry.

What plans of expansion does Q3 Technologies have in the pipeline?

Q3 has emerged as a serious challenger to the existing service providers in India over the last few years. With a very large number of marquee clients in India, Europe, US, APAC, and the Middle East, Q3 is poised for even greater growth momentum in the future. With the recent large investments that Q3 has made in our expansion at the Mahindra SEZ in Jaipur and our new office in the Mumbai, Q3 has aggressive expansion plans in India and in overseas markets over the next few years. We have also recently started our Sydney and Dubai sales offices, with which we now have a presence across all the major geographies

What initiatives are you taking in lines with the Government of India’s Digital India mission?

Q3 is an active member of various GOI initiatives specifically with respect to the Digital India mission. Members of our senior management team have been participating and speaking at various forums like: FICCI, CCI, and GeM where we provide industry-specific insights and participate in technology showcases and tries to give best of our contribution to GOIs agenda of Digital Transformation. We are working closely with several Government departments for developing AI-ML, Chatbots, and BI-Analytics based solutions.

Source URL : http://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/Leveraging-Enterprise-Digital-Transformation-with-Technology/09-07-2019-173007/

#digital india #artificial intelligence #machine learning #Blockchain #Q3 Technologies #government

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omg-big-data-blog · 6 years ago

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Why Artificial Intelligence? Can 3rd World Countries Learn?

Artificial Intelligence has produced a potent effect on the entire world. Currently machine learning has attained its innovative degree today we do not have to educate machines concerning the intricate tasks like text translation or picture recognition. This progress in both clinic, in addition to concept, has made machine learning potential. A vast assortment of businesses have changed and are succeeded in creating intelligence company programs to self-driving automobiles. There are a number of things that make us amazed caused by artificial intelligence.

Let us have a look at what Artificial Intelligence is?

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) also referred to as Machine Intelligence isalso, as its name suggests: intellect that's shown by machines compared with all our known, ordinary intelligence revealed by humans and distinct animals. From its origin going back into the mid-year of 1956 at Dartmouth College, the term"Artificial Intelligence" was introduced by a group of mathematicians and researchers who was gotten out of a meeting to create new ideas by which ways that robots and machines could solve and simulate several challenges in society. From there, the curiosity about robots agreeing control over the planet (no matter whether for good or aversion) was delineated in popular culture and movies, especially in the old motion pictures from the 1970s. Artificial Intelligence has a broad assortment of progress, as an instance, rule-based and logical systems which enable computers and robots to handle problems. That artificial intelligence (AI) has become faster than previously is nothing surprising. Since 2010, it's developed at an alarming annual development rate of around 60%. Our Future Proof site has only talked about a substantial bunch of the results of the development. But while we could proceed about what artificial intelligence will want to our prospective, who correctly will create this artificial intelligence? Or , better still, what would be the states driving the AI transformation? With respect to AI, not all states are exactly the same. Here are the top five driving countries given the amount of research papers published every year. 1 - China, 2 - the United States of America, 3 - Japan, 4 - the United Kingdom and 5 - Germany.

Significance of Artificial Intelligence

The Accenture Institute for High Performance has released study discovering this, by 2035, human-made artificial intelligence (AI) could quickly enhance yearly financial growth rates in developed markets.

The analysis thought about economic outcome in Every output in 2035 below a standard position given present assumptions against a single signaling expected development when the impact of AI was absorbed into the market. In the UK, AI could incorporate an excess USD 814 billion into the market, expanding the annual development rate of GVA from 2.5 per cent to 3.9 percent. In the US, the yearly growth rate went up from 2.6 percent to 4.6 per cent - an additional USD 8.3 trillion in net worth comprised (GVA) with extensive AI appropriation included.

On the other hand, It's developing markets where AI Is likely going to get the monumental effect. We've entered a period where substantial innovation-driven shift is tethered to different challenges in creating monetary aspects. AI innovation, especially, has good level solid formative ramifications. There are numerous problems using such technologies. The base, for one, is not equipped for integrating all AI improvements, therefore it is not an example of designing something fresh and then dropping it into a growing market. But while the principal requirement must be to build infrastructure - electricity and agribusiness frameworks - next-generation telecoms to ensure AI may be properly used, there are various ways it can be implemented.

Three important areas can benefit out of Artificial Intelligence

1. Farming

There Are two issues for the vast majority of people in developing countries: access to water and food. Provide food, to sailors smallholder farms, should have the capability to produce sufficient. On the flip side, right now, test frame, and rural growth frameworks equipped for encouraging smallholder farms are sadly insufficient. AI is appropriate for enlarging the return of farmland beneath culturing in developing nations, together with machine learning calculations used as part of drone technologies to both crops and fertilize seeds in rate farther than human capabilities. Another use of AI for meals management in developing markets is identifying evidence of disease in plants so that they can be the more easily treated. A group of analysts in Penn State and also the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) have supported a method of PCs with over 53,000 photos of healthy and healthy plants hoping to comprehend specific plant diseases. The frame has owned the capability to recognize the 2 goods and ailments - from photos - using a precision speed of around 99.35%. Such innovation will provide the assumption to field-based crop-disease identifiable proof using phones.

2. Resource Provision

For NGOs and foundations, figuring out where resources are required is crucial to helping those in require. If reachable assets aren't suitably used, the deficit makes a larger imprint. This is just another zone where AI will help significantly. It may be used to determine how to split various facets in the meantime in a manner that individuals can not which may arise, state, where a lack could occur, what amount of people it's likely going to influence, and what's required to repay the situation. For example,'Harvesting' is a startup using machine figuring out how to split down satellite data of the Earth's surface. They're endeavoring to pinpoint areas needing a fascination with the water and apparatuses needed for cultivating to allow organizations to distribute cash more efficiently. CEO of machine learning startup Harvesting, Ruchit Garg, noted of AI that, ' We expect that in utilizing this innovation we would have the capacity to segregate such villages and farmers and have banks or governments move dollars to the right individuals.'

3. Healthcare

The Ebola infection wreak havoc on African individuals group, as many flare-ups have during the years. Due to Ebola, Barbara Han, a disease ecologist in the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, said,'Utilizing machine learning strategies created for artificial intelligence, we could unite information from environment, biogeography, and general wellbeing to distinguish bat species with a high likelihood of harboring Ebola and different filoviruses. Understanding which species possess these infections, and where they are found, is basic to anticipating future spillovers. The preferred fundamental standpoint of Machine Learning is its capacity to manage complexities. With various factors communicating at one time, discoveries can be difficult to interpret. Machine Learning evades this. On this issue, Han says:'The research could not care less how the variables are conveying; its sole goal is to amplify prescient implementation. At the stage, human scientists could measure up' .

Machine learning innovation is the best method for understanding the spread of sickness, as well as giving alleviation. We are looking at future where machine learning could plausibly distinguish an infection, build up a cure, find where the outbreak is probably going to strike straightaway, and after that transport the treatment there in self-ruling vehicles, all with negligible human collaboration. There are numerous bridges to cross before this turns into a reality. Nonetheless, while AI in developed countries will have a remarkable effect, it could be essential for their exceptional survival, and it is crucial that everything is done to guarantee the framework is set up to exploit each advancement in the innovation.

Can 3rd world countries Learn?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be a "distinct advantage" in enhancing the lives of the world's poor, as indicated by the New York-based innovation business visionary Jack Hidary. He says the innovation expected to upset wasteful, inadequate food and social insurance frameworks in developing countries is well within grasp. AI will be a distinct advantage and advantage billions. Today two billion individuals in the world go hungry, so correcting the imbalanced dispersion of nourishment and managing the overall farming framework is a decent begin. Advances, for example, GPS have expanded the yield in created nations, however, have not been broadly utilized as a part of creating nations. Presently we can level that playing field with smartphones and access to the cloud.

"The Capability to enlarge the return of farmland beneath culturing in developing nations is a mission-basic test. I find that as indoors reach using these improvements. We have separate automatons for horticulture, for both taking seeds to the floor, and fertilizing." Numerous deaths in third-world countries are preventable. He anticipated that a gadget that appends to a cell phone and could take tests of blood, spit and pee would wind up accessible. It would tell the patient if they had illnesses as genuine as Zika, Ebola or Cholera.

There would be no compelling reason to send tests to a lab in the capital, which could take weeks. Rather, there would be a quick examination and medicine issued. Regularly the arrangement would be only a couple of pills or an infusion, getting to the individual to mind or detaching them. AI would speed that procedure and save numerous lives. Mr. Hidary included:"Applying AI to curative services is essential for the individuals of low-salary groups. Often in these lands, 1 health emergency decimates the whole household; each one of those funds could be dropped if a illness fells the supplier."

The disgrace of the third and second world countries lies in the way that the administration experts in these nations are not aware of doing things more astute, which maybe we as a whole concur. But another factor to a great extent adding to the circumstance is the pool of a legal philosophy to run an assortment of government offices or services. Poor funds or equipment, whatever is the situation, has influenced the third world issues to duplicate in years that could have overwhelmed with a legitimate methodology to adapt them. The expression "Developing Countries" has been utilized by numerous over the world to distinguish the nations that are still under the way toward making a mark economically. Systematically nation's economy chooses the classification of a country on the world guide.

Government authorities are not paying regard to a significant number of the issues looked by individuals in these countries. Rights are not secured; the ones underneath the neediness line are going further down under while the exclusive class is flourishing socially and monetarily. Out of a considerable lot of the social shades of malice in these social orders, the one that has sneaked in the most and harmed its very structure is debasement. Equity is sold in a large number of these countries, and no one deals with poor people and delicate strata of the general public while the capable appreciate submitting debasements of various structures and liberating from all contribution. It is an inconsistency that this threat has obliterated each part in these countries. A risk to the general public, debasement has, all things considered, made each administration association tumble from its elegance, and no one feels wrong about it.

Indeed, even In services and bureaus of state,'lack of thought' and'NO Will to alter' is the main reason for such a pitiful situation. Wellbeing, Finance, instruction, railroadtrack, shared assets, each one of those branches is Being used for their own additions. None of the resources and fees paid From the nationals is placed to a good use from the different sections. No Appropriate frame is made available to the experts with the Goal they can have a shot sicknesses and their medications. People can not get a valid remedy for the minor disorders in Numerous such states. From the schooling division, caliber is crumbling With every passing year. Nothing, in Fact, was completed to take care Of the numerous setups such as railroads, roads and all of the Developments and transportation are within an unremarkable state if Contrasted those along with also the generated or even semi-developed nations.

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shirlleycoyle · 5 years ago

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Nvidia Says Its AI Created a ‘Fully Functional’ Version of Pac-Man

Chipmaker Nvidia says it has trained a machine learning program to create Pac-Man from scratch and without a game engine after forcing the AI to "watch" 50,000 matches of the game.

The AI is called GameGAN, a neural network based on Nivdia’s generative adversarial network (GAN) model. These programs learn by observing large numbers of training inputs, like video of thousands of Pac-Man matches plus user inputs, and producing examples that match the original. The AI’s version of Pac-Man is "fully functional" and Nvidia plans to release its code soon.

GANs aren’t new and people have used them to generate faces that don’t exist, turn pictures of dogs into cats, and transform humans into waifus.

“This is the first research to emulate a game engine using GAN-based neural networks,” Seung-Wook Kim, an Nvidia researcher said in a press release. “We wanted to see whether the AI could learn the rules of an environment just by looking at the screenplay of an agent moving through the game. And it did.”

According to a Nvidia blog, the AI program generates the game frame-by-frame, keeping track of what's already been generated to maintain consistency. According to Nvidia, the AI managed to reproduce the game's core rules and mechanics. However, Polygon noted, Nvidia VP of simulation technology Rev Lebaredian said in a media briefing this week that the AI actually ended up with a bias towards never letting the player die. Even if it has to bend the rules, it will try and keep the player alive.

It’s impressive work, but GANs aren’t new and people have used them to generate faces that don’t exist, turn pictures of dogs into cats, and transform humans into waifus. Indeed, researchers have used AI to generate elements of video games for a while now, even generating Super Mario Bros. levels, for example. Computer scientists Matthew Guzdial and Mark Riedl even created an algorithm that generates whole video games by watching footage of Kirby, Mega Man, and Super Mario Bros . The games started as reams of code, but Guzdial and Riedl eventually trained the AI to add visuals and sound with minimal input from the user.

Guzdial, who is now an AI researcher and assistant professor at the University of Alberta, said there’s a lot of pre-existing research that focuses on AI generating video games or elements of video games.

“The new stuff here compared to a typical GAN is that they're explicitly giving it ‘memory’ of what it has already output and splitting up the modelling of static and dynamic components of the game,” he told Motherboard in a Twitter DM.

Nvidia’s GameGAN separates the foreground and background elements of Pac-Man, the ghosts and the player character from the maze, and trains either as different elements. This allowed the team to do some strange things like replace Pac-Man with Mario in the maze.

Guzdial was careful to point out that Nvidia’s official research paper isn’t out until May 25, and said he’s seen similar work from other researchers.

“First off, Ha and Schmidhuber and their ‘World Models’ paper from 2018, which was able to get similar looking results over one of the two same domains using [very simplified Doom mini game,” he said. Second off, there's very recent work from Queen Mary University which also looks to try to learn to replicate a game, and notably does it with a ‘Neural Game Engine,’ basically a way of letting neural nets learn game rules more explicitly, instead of learning game rules as big complicated functions of tons of parameters.”

The original Pac-Man rom is around 14KB. Guzdial said he thinks, though he’s not sure because the research isn’t yet published, that Nvidia’s AI generated Pac-Man will be several GB large. He doesn’t think we’ll be playing AI generated versions of old-school games anytime soon.

“Even if we could, why play a noisy remake of an original game, when you could just play the original game?” He said.“Despite demonstrating that they can swap out static and dynamic elements, this Nvidida work is still fundamentally going to be an imperfect copy of an existing game.”

According to Nvidia, the goal of the work is more about advances in training AI than video games; teaching an AI the rules of Pac-Man by making it watch hours of footage of the game is a proof of concept.

“Suppose you install a camera on a car. It can record what the road environment looks like or what the driver is doing, like turning the steering wheel or hitting the accelerator,” Nvidia said in a blog about the research. “This data could be used to train a deep learning model that can predict what would happen in the real world if a human driver—or an autonomous car—took an action like slamming the brakes.”

According to Guzdial, the future of AI in video games is about assistance. Game designers may soon use AI to help them sculpt new games out of existing code and footage. “The thing that's most interesting to me for [deep neural network] game engines specifically is how they can be used to help agents learn to play the original games,” he said. He pointed to Go-Explore, an AI that learned how to explore environments by playing the Atari games Montezuma’s Revenge and Pitfall. The point, Guzdial says, is to get the AI working with an imperfect game agent—an AI player—to improve the way the AI makes predictions.

As for Nvidia's project, “Their stated goal is to learn models of real world domains, but I just don't see us getting there very soon given the accuracy these approaches have been demonstrating,” Guzdial said. “Specifically, I don’t expect GAN architectures specialized to games will be how we get there.”

Nvidia Says Its AI Created a ‘Fully Functional’ Version of Pac-Man syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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holytheoristtastemaker · 5 years ago

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The Government’s “Plan to Rebuild” , including reducing the length of the lockdown, depends heavily on test, track and trace. We are beginning to see articles (like that from Wharton Business Schools) which juxtapose the cost in lives against the cost in jobs from delaying the lifting of lockdown, with the use of mobile phone data seen as central to reconciling the two objectives. We are also beginning to see studies like that from the Lancet on the cost in lives of the global lockdown. Articles on the intra-UK cost are, as yet, separated between those on the economic cost and those on the excess deaths (e.g. from cancer) resulting from the focussing of NHS resources on Covid. According to the Edelman Trust barometer more than half the world (59% in the UK, 53% in Germany, 50% in the USA) “is willing to give up more of my personal data and tracking information to the Government than I normally would in order to help track and contain the spread of the virus.” Meanwhile Apple and Google have reportedly worked with Civil Liberties campaigners around the world to attack, as a threat to privacy, centralised symptom reporting and tracking systems linked to response planning and research programmes.

In consequence debate on how to implement large scale testing, track and trace in the UK is ill-informed, unbalanced and muddled.

Anyone trying to make sense of that muddle should begin by reading Ross Anderson’s blog on Contact Tracing in the Real World . Then they should look at recent YouGov market research indicating that support for a blue tooth app depends more on its affect on battery life than on the effect on privacy.

Market research for Politico, indicated that around 2/3rds of Britons support the idea of a track and trace app, but half of these are concerned over how government will use their data and most of these favour a decentralised approach. Few appreciate that the latter, on its own, does not aid track and trace. Many articles attacking the NHSX app as “insecure” or an “invasion of privacy” imply that a decentralised approach, based on blue tooth contacts is an alternative. It is not. The promotion material for the Singaporean app, Trace Together describes it as merely an aide memoire to assist responses to the main tracing programme. The use of blue tooth contacts as a proxy for physical contact likely to lead to infection has serious limitations, from the proportion of the population that does not regularly carry suitable, always on phones through false positives (e.g. signals passing through “covid-proof” screens or windows) to false negatives (e.g. surfaces previously infected by those not currently in blue tooth range). The South Korean approach, which enabled rapid texts and calls to 21,000 mobile phones known to have been be in the vicinity of a handful of infected individuals in a cluster of gay nightclubs and adjacent food stalls or cafes, or on their routes home, bypassed such problems. But the press cover illustrates why a significant community regards the risk of helping spread Covid as less important than the risk of being “outed”. Meanwhile the vulnerability of “morally compulsory” blue-tooth apps (as in India) has been well exposed. The potential super-spreaders who wish to keep their private lives private, while demonstrating public compliance, with fake certificates as necessary, have been shown the way. By contrast over 3.5 million have now signed up for the Kings College symptom tracking app joinzoe to aid research and understanding.

We need a change of message to: “Help us beat Covid: join the Team”.

The Society of Conservative lawyers has produced a very thorough paper, “Contract tracing: what government must do to achieve take-up and secure privacy” for the current approach. The opposite approach might, however, be more effective. Invite the public to join a large scale “clinical trial”, giving informed consent for the use of their data, in return for ….. The aim would be to encourage the population at large to join symptom reporting and advice giving programmes, linked (if they wish) to their other health conditions, at the same time as facilitating track and trace. Such a programme might include the use of Bluetooth by those who wish, but need not be constrained by its limitations. It could also (again if participants wish and give the necessary consents) help address what may well become an endemic problem with similar infections. The approach could morph into the heart of a unique, mass-market epidemiological database and research tool, based on granular informed consent. As a sometime Corporate Planner for the Wellcome Foundation I am well aware of the limitations of research programmes based on panels of self-selected volunteers. We have a unique opportunity to create a database that excludes only the 30% or so who trust neither State nor NHS with their data but often appear happy to sign up to VPNs and PETs (Privacy Enhancing Technologies) from who knows who. But no-one should have any illusions about security or anonymity. Both have been all but destroyed by our failure to sort the vulnerabilities of the Internet and the tools we commonly use to access it. The best we can do is to better identify and take action against those who are careless with, or actively abuse, the information we give them permission to use. In the UK we might call it “Joining Team NHS” but we lose if we do not also treat it as part of the UK contribution to a global effort. The rest of this blog is structured as follows: 1) A muddled debate comparing chalk and cheese while mixing in other agendas 2) Unpacking the agendas: academic, commercial, political, professional etc. 3) The need for a balanced risk assessment: people as well as technology 4) Towards a new message: “Help us beat Covid: join the team.”

1) A muddled debate comparing chalk and cheese while mixing in other agendas

It is meaningless to compare the decentralised Apple/Google approach, (which enables the user to know their phone has been in recent blue tooth contact with the phone of a self-identified carrier), with centralised apps (like that being piloted by NHSX) designed to help identity, track and trace possible carriers, provide epidemiological data to locate and address pockets of infection and help support research to address future problems as the virus mutates. The UK Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has recommended that the NHSX bluetooth-based app, intended to do the “heavy lifting”, should not go ahead without various guarantees,. Some of these appear to require primary legislation. This reflects arguments in the technical press that the NHSX apps and databases should meet higher security and data protection standards than are common for most commercial apps , government on-line services and/or research programmes. There has been no argument as to why this is so, let alone admission of the inherent vulnerability of blue-tooth apps in general (because of the way they work). The arguments are instead linked to claims that the NHSX app is insecure and/or fails to protect human rights plus attacks on its practical value in the tabloid press . There are attacks on the NHSX code, which (unlike other apps) has been examined by NCSC (itself a cause for suspicion on the part of privacy paranoids) and released for peer review. There are attacks on the Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Isle Wight pilot. The risk register has been also criticised as insufficient. The overall approach has also been attacked as “illegal” because the data is pseudonymous rather than anonymous. I am not sure what difference this makes. Almost any routine can now be reversed using suitable AI-driven “big data mashup” using tools and files in the public domain and/or available on the dark web. The question should be whether anyone has the incentive to make the effort and what would be the consequences if they did. The advent of AI assisted, big data mashups has left Data Protection legislation well behind. Mashups across credit/debit card transaction, mobile phone records and public sector files lie behind the successful track and trace programmes of Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Meanwhile there is an absence of debate over the personal liabilities (including under both civil and criminal law) of those given access to the data in order to identify contacts and ensure they are tested and/or quarantined as necessary (see section 3 of this blog). Claims that claims that the centralised approach will be abandoned can be equated to claims that track and trace will be abandoned. Given the limited value of decentralised apps which only work on a subset of the recent mobile phones and are designed for personal protection rather than collective value, we are more likely to see an evolution which bridges the gap – probably using voluntary symptom reporting apps to aid epidemiological research, like joinzoe , which already has 3.5 million participants. This approach has already been shown, in a peer reviewed journal to have value as a predictive tool for outbreaks leading to a rise in hospital admissions. it is also throwing up invaluable research material indicating the incidence of different symptoms as the virus affects those with different underlying conditions. In short, there is a diversity of approaches around the world and the Chinese/Korean/Taiwanese concept of using the Cell and/or GSM location of the mobile phone plus digital transaction data and public records to support rigorous track and trace has been shown to be very much more rapid and effective in tracing contacts in time to control outbreaks. The big question is whether we are more concerned about the freedom to roam or the ability to keep our roaming habits private. Most existing UK track and trace experience is with sexually transmitted diseases. That should put us in a good position to handle the stigma issues that made voluntary compliance impractical in South Korea. But it also helps explain the concerns of those who place privacy above controlling Covid.

2) Unpacking the agendas: political, academic, commercial, political, professional etc.

There are three broad agendas:

Preserve the right to privacy over the Internet at all costs

This is the agenda of those whose believe in an over-arching and inalienable “human right” to anonymity and privacy over the Internet. For the group track and trace apps are another round in a war that began with attempt to update legislation on the interception of communications, was fought through the various stages of RIPA (the regulation of investigatory powers) and had reached the battlefield of “on line harms” when the Covid-19 outbreak began. This group includes much of the Internet community, whose values were formed when Silicon Valley was a centre of opposition to the Vietnam war. plus others who do not wish their locations or life styles known to law enforcement or their neighbours. Just as they have fought to prevent other “traditional” legislation from being applied to the on-line world, so the members of this group are fighting to prevent that regarding the control of infectious diseases being applied.

The same laws should apply on-line and off-line

This group includes those who believe the Internet giants should face the same taxes as the High Street and that we have a “right” to “know” who we dealing/communicating with, even if we do not know their names, only their face, voice and/or an identity they have chosen to trust. This group also tends to believe that those who “aid and abet” fraud, abuse or criminal behaviour on-line should be liable as they would in the “real” world. They would probably support full access to mobile phone location data as in South Korea or Taiwan – as part of the implementation of traditional track and trace to control infectious diseases.

Freedom of Choice

The third group, probably the majority, believe that “we” not “them” (whether Government or Google) should be in control of our personal data (including the location of our mobile phones). Most of this group are, in practice, happy to exchange some or all of that control in return for cheap/free services, but resent that they are not given genuine choice. Most of this group probably sees no reason why we should not be able (on a voluntary basis) to put our NHS numbers into a mobile phone app, together with permission to use our GSM or CDMA location. They would then reserve the “right” to leave their phone behind, or use another one, if they wish to “go where we do not know others to know”. For any mobile phone “app” to be successful, it needs to be used by a large proportion of the population – including of those who do not carry up-to-date bluetooth-enabled mobile phones in areas with a good signal. That means that Government needs to know the balance of public opinion between the three views. The first group, battle-hardened from decades of combat against the FBI, NSA and GCHQ, got its act together while Governments without off-the-shelf systems to provide automated support for trace were struggling. The result cost a months delay (including a double “U” turn”) in getting the German app working. The French refused to back down and are producing their own, without co-operation from Apple and Google. in the UK NHSX is an evolving compromise. But mobile phone apps are only one of the battlefields on which war is being waged. Behind the headlines many other agendas are being progressed:

by politicians with positions to protect,

interest groups with axes to grind and

regulators seeking to justify their existence, through

academics seeking attention (and/or funding) for their research programmes and

professional bodies/trades unions looking out for their members interests, to

commercial players with products/service to promote or protect.

Almost every nation except for those which already had them as a legacy of SARS (e.g. Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) has had to move fast to produce computer systems that will help support a track and trace operation. Most begin with big data mash-ups to produce national solutions while Apple and Google used the opportunity to cement their joint position as dominant players in the mobile phone market. Belatedly the European Union got into the act, about the time that national boundaries are being re-opened, with a call for inter-operability standards . ETSI, the European standards body is therefore looking at creating a standard for inter-operability with “a primary challenge” being “collecting, processing and acting on information about citizens’ proximity at scale, potentially tens or hundreds of millions of people. This must also be achieved without compromising users’ anonymity and privacy, and while safeguarding them against exposure to potential cyber attacks.” But why “must” inter-operability be achieved without “compromising …”. The Internet has no inherent security. Global trade in everything else is built on compromises. And the obsession with privacy and anonymity is one of the reasons for the scale and nature of on-line abuse, extortion and fraud. And why only inter-operability between mobile phone standards? There is a bigger issue to do with clashes between the other processes being used locally and nationally to track and trace contacts beginning with the identities and sources of information that will used by those being recruited to implement track and trace (in the UK this began with the sexual health professionals in BASHH), in the infection control processes of national health care system and in those of business, including for travelling staff. Here we can see a new round of “games”, particularly with regard to digital identities and “trusted” information sharing. In the UK Verify was put back onto life support before DWP realised it could not cope (its many functional flaws have still not been fixed) and allowed millions of new claimants to use their existing HMRC identities and Gateway accounts. Some are trying to use the opportunity to give Verify a new lease of life – even though only two providers are left: Digidentity, (a US-owned Dutch company) and the Post Office. Meanwhile DWP has stopped new claimants from asking for their benefits payments to be paid into Post Office Card Accounts, although Post Offices are open (to withdraw cash) and banks are not. The decade old agenda of herding the sheep on-line to be fleeced takes priority over helping those living from hand to mouth. Part of the small print of the Google/Apple smart phone app is the inability to turn-off Google Analytics – the world’s largest general purpose track and trace operation. It ties to the IP address of the phone although PC users with browser like Firefox can hinder its use. The governance of IP addresses, currently under the aegis of ICANN has come under unexpected scrutiny as result of the controversy over the sale, now blocked, of the Public Interest Registry to a consortium organised by Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile ID2020 the initiative to give legal identities to the billions without them, involving players like Microsoft and Accenture, has been rubbished by conspiracy theorists. A large and growing number of local and global digital identity and authorisation initiatives are vying for attention and, more importantly, trust. Most see the changes brought about by Covid-19, (the move on-line by most of the world and the need to identify, test, track and trace large numbers of potential carriers) as an opportunity. All organisations delivering public digital services within the European Union are required to recognise electronic “signatures” which meet the eIDAS requirements. The ICO website provides UK guidance and links . Gov.UK was responsible for UK implementation and created the Verify programme. But this is still not capable of issuing an “advanced” electronic signature. Hence part of the reason that HMRC, NHS, DfE and others do not use it. Move-over an eIDAS signatures say nothing about the probity of the holder. Private sector markets therefore remain dominated by the “digital identities” issued via organisations like SWIFT, Visa, Mastercard, RELX, Experian and GS1 (which also looks after bar code system). Their digital identities/signatures are “recognised” by the world’s local, national and international transaction, payment and product clearing services. Meanwhile most of the mobile phone operators and most of the members of the Internet Association (from Amazon, through Google and Paypal to Uber) have attempted to enter this market, singly or in partnerships, with varying success. The way ahead begins with open frameworks for identity and information arbitrage between players with known processes The membership of the Digital Policy Alliance Internet Safety and Policy Group includes those (from some of the world’s large credit reference agencies to start-ups serving those paranoid about personal privacy) interested in working together to fund and test standards like PAS 1296 (for Age Checking) which enable the verification of authorisation attributes (e.g. age) to be separated from the need for the service provider to hold personal information. Such processes are no longer theory. They are operational. There is even a trade association of representing providers whose processes have been independently audited against the standard. Alongside the work to turn such processes into global standards, some of the members have begun looking at the wider issues of trusted information exchange, as with the Yoti call for collaboration on a global code of practice for sharing personal health credentials . Government departments will need to work together very much better as we begin to emerge from lockdown and try to get millions of children and students back into education and millions of those furloughed, and/or with no job to go back to, into work with the skills of the future. Where is the code of practice for sharing educational credentials? Why do we have separate identity systems for funding (let alone performance recording) in the UK for schools, colleges and universities? Do we want the way forward to be dominated by those whose files are held under US or Chinese legislation and/or available to those on the Dark Web? Hence also the current fashion for events on Internet Governance (? an oxymoron). These are increasingly being linked to overlapping events on the governance of AI and Big Data. Covid-19 has brought forward many conflicting agendas.

3) The need for a balanced risk assessment: reliability, resilience and abuse as well as data protection, people as well as technology

The Data Protection risk register for the Isle of Wight pilot raises more questions that it asks. The most significant to most users are those with regard to the “misuse of information by those with access”, other forms of malicious and mischievous use, the possible implicit identification of infected individuals and the uncertain length of retention of data to aid epidemiological research. The answer given to the risk of misuse of information reveals the weakness of the UK implementation of the EU General Data Protection Directive. It lacks effective sanctions for abuse by individuals as opposed to carelessness by organisations. Custodial sentences to help enforce existing Data Protections were recommended by House of Commons Culture Media and Sport Select Committee in 2016 . The precise recommendation (para 36 and 37 of the report) was that section 77 and 78 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 be implemented. Unfortunately Section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998, to which these clauses refer, was effectively repealed by Section 170 of the Data Protection Act 2018 In consequence there is no effective sanction for individuals involved with track and trace who may be more concerned about the “honour” of their communities than keeping confidentiality when they learn who might have been in contact with who. This is particularly important given the need to expand the staffing levels of Public Health track and trace teams from hundreds (usually handling sexually transmitted diseases with a high degree of confidentiality) to thousands . Concerns have been raised about the training to be given to those who will needed to be added to the experienced team leaders and call handlers originally targeted . The specified skills for team leaders are non-trivial. The bigger risk is, however, with the call centre support staff. I was specialist advisor to the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee Cybersecurity enquiry and given clearance by the chairman to speak on the issues afterwards. I did a time line on the incident and the consequent reported frauds. It quickly became apparent that the latter had used data from an earlier leak from a call centre in India shared by all (i.e. not just Talk Talk) who resold unbundled telephone circuits – but the resultant court cases were still sub judice. I do not know what has happened since. I note, however, that the relevant operation is now based in the UK. Leaks from call centres are not confined to India but the legislation to enable effective sanctions against those responsible in the UK is still missing. There is a need for rapid action, including primary legislation to bring in custodial sentences, as previously legislated for by Parliament. The way in which cyber-criminals and on-line abusers are exploiting the opportunities, as the sheep are not only herded on-line but penned in their homes and bedrooms, makes it all the more urgent to apply the same law on-line as off-line in much broader context, including aiding and abetting and going equipped . Both organised and opportunist criminals have amended traditional scams for a Covid environment and invented new ones, both on-line and on the doorstep . Imitation track and test services are one of the most common. Some of the most heartless are against charities – see here for the latest advice from the Charity Commission.

4) A new message: “Help us beat Covid: join the team.”

The Imperial/IPSOS Mori home testing programme to track the level of infection in the community and the use of the UK Biobank to support a large scale, long term study into antibodies and their duration indicate the scale of anonymised research under way. Meanwhile the willingness of over 3.5 million to sign up for the joinzoe symptom tracker, giving simple informed consent under GDPR, show the willingness of a significant proportion of the population to provide personal information in the common good. If it is correct that the NHSX app was downloaded by nearly 40% of the population of the Isle of Wight (and nearly 60% of those with mobile phones that can run it) within a week of launch, then that is evidence of significantly greater willingness to participate in a centralised app, widely criticised for lack of privacy, than to use decentralised apps, like Singapore’s Track and Trace, promoted only as an aide memoire for the use and taken up by barely 20%. That willingness calls in question the pre-conditions for success summarised in the Imperial white paper and repeated as a mantra by many across the Data Protection industry. The NHS “brand” is far more trusted than those of Apple or Google. Nearly a decade ago the Digital Policy Alliance ran an exercise to improve mutual understanding between Data Protection professionals and Clinicians on the actions necessary to improve the provision of accurate, timely, relevant and secure (in that order) patient information at the point of need. The exercise was a failure because the data protection professionals would not stop talking long enough to let the clinicians explain why their priorities were as they were. I did, however, get sight of interesting but unpublished (too embarrassing) surveys of patient opinion. They repeated what my staff at the NCC Microsystems Centre learned (35 years ago), when we had a contract to evaluate first generation on-line practice systems. The early systems were commonly specified by GPs concerned with, inter alia, practical patient privacy, drug interactions and side effect reporting. They were not driven by consultancies concerned about data protection, cost saving or performance reports. Central to the acceptability of automated systems to help track, trace and medical research is acceptance of the limitations of that “trust”. Past surveys of the willingness of NHS patients to provide personal information or take part in clinical trials indicate the power of an invitation from a nurse or clinician looking after their health care to participate in a study that might help improve that care (70 – 80% with no need for persuasion). That was commonly accompanied by a reluctance to provide data to help “improve efficiency” (barely 30 – 40% unless accompanied by a juicy carrot). Today we also know that trust will evaporate with any suggestion that information will be passed outside the UK, for whatever reason. Hence the importance of building on initiatives like the UK biobank , of a code of practice as proposed by Yoti and of using intra-UK cloud services for shared data under clear UK control. These need to be policed by NCSC, but to use the NHS (not NCSC) brand name. There is also a need for sanctions, under criminal law, as recommended four years ago by the CMS Select Committee, for those who breach that trust.

0 notes

annaxkeating · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

SaaS landing pages have changed a lot over the last 10 years. Long gone are the days of blocky designs, cold informational copywriting, and generic stock photos that show suspiciously-attractive people shaking hands in what looks like a very important business meeting.

To get the best possible conversion rate in 2020, you need to explain the complexities of your software without boring the pants off your prospects. You need to use authentic visuals that show visitors they can really trust your brand. And you need to target your landing page so the right audience sees it at just the right moment of their customer journey.

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

And it’s not just us—you can do the same comparison with any SaaS brand that’s been in the landing page game for a long time. The design, copy, branding, tactics…they’ve all gotten better, like little Pokémon evolving into—uh—bigger, better-looking Pokémon, I guess. (OK, you got me. I’ve never actually played Pokémon.)

But while SaaS landing pages have come a long way, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. I recently went through and manually reviewed 200 real-world SaaS campaigns to see if I could learn what works (and what doesn’t) in 2020. (Full disclaimer: I know this is a relatively small sample size. But my goal was to look for high-level trends vs. data-driven insights.)

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

For the upcoming 2020 Conversion Benchmark Report, our team of data scientists (yep, they have lab coats) have been using machine learning and a rigorous methodology to study more than 34,132 landing pages and 19.2 million conversions. (Get hyped—it’s coming soon to a marketing inbox near you. If you’re curious, you can take a look at the 2017 version in the meantime.)

One of the perks of working here is that I got an early look at some of their research. And I don’t want to sound overly dramatic here, but one data point made me raise my eyebrows two-and-a-half inches higher than usual…

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Now there could be a few reasons for this. For starters, software can be pretty intangible and boring-looking, making it harder to market. (Although, believe it or not, I have seen some super sexy bookkeeping platforms.) It can also be complicated to explain in simple terms what your software does, who it’s for, and what all the different features do that make it special. Plus, most SaaS businesses are targeting a very specific niche, in an industry that’s constantly changing—and there’s typically a longer sales cycle, too.

All of these challenges add up to make SaaS landing pages a particularly tough nut to crack. And Talia Wolf, the Founder and Chief Optimizer at GetUplift, says they often cause marketers to miss out on what’s really driving conversions on their landing pages…

Most SaaS marketers know what a great landing page looks like. They get the concept of focusing on a singular offer and leading visitors down the funnel. But there are other parts they miss out on ALL THE TIME. Strategy, emotion, persuasion, and most importantly—creating a customer-centric landing page. If you don’t go back and optimize for these things, then your page will never get the results you really need for your business.

Yikes! It might be a bias we have here at Unbounce, but we believe you should never “set it and forget it” with your landing pages. (Though, I totally get how easy that is to do with all you’ve got going on.) To score those above-average conversion rates, you need to optimize each page before and after you hit publish.

And by optimize, I don’t just mean tweaking your button colors. To shape up your landing pages the way the experts do, you’ve gotta make smart decisions based on data and research. Track who is visiting your page and understand what they’re looking for. Use tools to discover whether your copy is actually resonating. And record what happens after someone clicks your CTA.

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

I spent the last couple of weeks studying 200 randomly-selected SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce. The goal was to look for qualitative trends and commonalities between the pages, and get a sense of what a high-converting SaaS landing page looks like in 2020. (Inspiration credit to Ross Simmonds, who recently did some similar research on SaaS websites.)

My methodology was pretty straightforward. I’d open a SaaS landing page, check it for some of the different elements, then mark it off in a spreadsheet. I went with a smaller sample size (200) that was manageable enough for me to take a self-guided look and satisfy my own curiosity.

Before we dive into the data though, there is one other caveat. While I did my best to keep only the pages that looked, felt, and smelled like SaaS, some of the sampled companies might not sell their software on a purely subscription basis.

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

The most popular type of SaaS landing page I saw was the “Demo/Consultation Page.” Marketers are using these to get visitors to try a demo of their software or reach out for a free consultation to learn more. No surprises here—it’s that classic “try before you buy” approach that gets leads in the door.

“Sign-Up Pages” were the next-most popular at 24%, which skip the demo and ask visitors to get started right away with either a free trial or paid plan. These work well at the bottom of the funnel—but you’ve gotta make sure you target them properly so only the decision-ready people are clicking onto your landing page. Otherwise, you’ll just end up scaring folks away.

Coming in third place were “Lead Magnet Pages” at 21%. These are your webinar registration pages, your ebook download pages, and… well, that’s pretty much it, actually. Seems like those are still the two most popular ways to get top-of-funnel leads into your email database in 2020.

Here’s an interesting data point—the average H1 headline I saw on these SaaS landing pages was 44 characters long, which usually comes in at less than eight words. In general, this gives you just enough space to communicate the problem your software is going to solve for visitors. (E.g., “Rescue Customers When They Need Quick Support.”)

And while I know we tend to think the shorter, the better when it comes to headlines, that’s not always the case. As I went through these 200 pages, one thing I noticed was that the shortest headlines were usually just the names of the software or literal descriptions of what they did (e.g., “AI Dialer”). This is a classic mistake that SaaS marketers tend to make—making the landing page all about you and your software, and not enough about the problem you’re solving or the people who need it most. (Further proof? Words like “You” and “Your” only appeared in about 27% of the H1 headlines on the SaaS pages I sampled.)

Curious about what other problems are plaguing SaaS landing pages? CRO expert Talia Wolf has identified three other mistakes marketers make and put together step-by-step instructions on how to solve them in the epic new guide—How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

When it comes to the images being featured at the top of SaaS landing pages, there were a few surprises. For starters, it seems like most marketers are still choosing to show off their software at the top of the page (40%), rather than a photograph of people (27%) or an illustration (8%). This is despite the fact that many SaaS brands have moved towards using illustrations on their websites in the last couple of years. Seems like marketers are choosing to go literal on their landing pages, instead.

Even more surprising? Almost one in four SaaS landing pages are choosing to use no images at all in their hero section. In my opinion, this isn’t a bad strategy—cutting down on the design elements of your page can help visitors focus on what’s important (like your headline and that big, beautiful CTA) and help your content load faster too.

Social proof is one of the most valuable things you can have on your landing page. Not only does it build trust with your visitors, it can also help to highlight key software benefits and features that you want prospects to know about.

And yet—only 54% of the SaaS landing pages I sampled featured a testimonial of some kind. (And that number gets even lower if you only count the testimonials that feature photos of the customer and their real, full names.)

But you don’t have to take my word on why you should use social proof—here’s a testimonial (omg, see what I did there?) from Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Orbit Media.

When you say it, it’s marketing. When your customer says it, it’s social proof. This is why testimonials are so powerful. The substance is better; it’s an objective, third-party perspective. The style is also better; it’s more authentic, less polished.

Here’s some good news! When it comes to keeping your landing page distraction-free, most SaaS marketers seem to be on board. 91% of the pages I sampled had no top navigation, and 73% of them had only one, singular CTA for visitors to click on. Keeping eyes on the prize—that’s the landing page advantage.

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The word cloud above shows which CTA buttons SaaS marketers are using most frequently on their landing pages. “Get Started” and “Get Free Demo” are two of the most popular phrases, with other classics like “Start Your Free Trial” and “Try Now” coming in close behind.

The majority (72%) of SaaS landing pages I sampled feature a form of some kind for visitors to fill out. This means rather than have visitors click-through to a sign-up flow or some other registration page, marketers are opting to collect lead info right on the landing page itself.

The forms I saw ranged in type and size. The largest had over 10 fields to fill out, including mandatory boxes asking for your “Type of Organization,” “Job Title,” and “Company Website.” (It also had a box at the end asking if you had any “Questions/Comments.” Which, I mean, of course you do. But this landing page form probably isn’t the best place to put them.)

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

So many SaaS landing pages have headlines that focus on the product. What I love about this example from Mixmax is that the copy makes it about the visitor and the problems they care about most. “De-clutter YOUR email. Prioritize YOUR focus. Automate YOUR day.” These are the benefits of the software, and the Mixmax team has framed them in a customer-centric way that really resonates with visitors.

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

When you get to the bottom of the funnel, it’s important to layer on the social proof so visitors are ready to take the plunge into a free trial. This example from Peakon does a great job of showing that they’re the “world’s leading platform for measuring and improving employee engagement” by dropping in some big-name company logos right underneath.

Add in a simple and straightforward form that includes objection-handling microcopy (“Peakon is free to try for 30 days. No credit card required.”) and you can see why this page delivers the goods.

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

This beautifully-designed lead magnet landing page from Shoelace is like a work of pop art. The on-brand illustrations and animations make downloading the deck seem like a downright fun proposition, and the copy highlights the problem before sliding in the downloadable deck as a solution.

Also, did you notice the “book a demo” secondary CTA in the top nav bar? Although it goes against one of the landing page best practices, this works nicely as a shortcut for more solution-aware visitors who are ready to take action.

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

Every year, SaaS landing pages keep getting better. More marketers in this industry are becoming optimization experts in their own right, which means they know how to target the right people with their campaigns, use copy that taps into visitor emotions, and drive more conversions.

To help you optimize like a bonafide expert, Unbounce has teamed up with Talia Wolf and ActiveCampaign to create an epic new guide. Inside, Talia has identified the four biggest problems on SaaS landing pages today (like having a UX that bleeds visitors) and is sharing the customer-centric checklist she uses to make sure her client campaigns are high-converting.

from Digital https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/the-state-of-saas-landing-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#digital marketing

0 notes

samanthasmeyers · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/the-state-of-saas-landing-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#Digital Marketing

0 notes

roypstickney · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

0 notes

jjonassevilla · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff��

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/the-state-of-saas-landing-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#SEO

0 notes

josephkchoi · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020 published first on https://nickpontemrktg.wordpress.com/

0 notes

itsjessicaisreal · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

from Marketing https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/the-state-of-saas-landing-pages/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

kennethmontiveros · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020 published first on http://nickpontemktg.blogspot.com/

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reviewandbonuss · 5 years ago

Text

The State of SaaS Landing Pages in 2020

It’s no easy task. But it is possible. And SaaS marketers are getting better at all of the above in 2020.

Just take a look at a landing page we used to advertise our trial of Unbounce back in our early years, compared to a landing page we’re using today…

I believe this is what the kids these days call a “glow up.”

Keep reading to see what I learned in the process, some examples you can use for inspiration, and some tips on how to optimize your SaaS landing pages like a pro this year.

The Big Problem: SaaS Marketers Are Converting Less

On average, SaaS landing pages convert 10.46% lower than the overall conversion rate baseline.

This means that SaaS pages are less likely to convert than the majority of other industry landing pages covered in their in-depth research—including ecommerce and education pages. (“Whaaaat?!”)

Because it’s only if you keep iterating and optimizing over time that you’ll be able to uncover the true conversion potential of your landing pages.

SaaS Landing Page Trends in 2020 [A Qualitative Look]

Sound cool? Then let’s get to the good stuff…

What Are the Most Popular CTA Buttons?

Your CTA has to do a lot of heavy lifting. Not only should it inspire action from your landing page visitors, but it should also make it clear exactly what will happen when someone clicks through.

The average number of form fields came in between four and five, with the shortest forms asking you to only fill out one thing: your email address.

Long and clunky forms can tank your landing page conversion rate—learn to make ‘em smarter with tips from CRO expert Talia Wolf. Download the free guide: How to Optimize Your SaaS Landing Pages.

Three Examples of Modern SaaS Landing Pages

Looking for some inspiration for your next campaign? Here are three SaaS landing pages built in Unbounce that impressed us with their smart, tailored approaches to copy and design.

The “Try a Free Demo” Page

Image courtesy of Mixmax. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Start Your Free Trial” Page

Image courtesy of Peakon. (Click to see the whole thing.)

The “Lead Magnet” Page

Image courtesy of Shoelace. (Click to see the whole thing.)

Are You Ready to Start Optimizing?

https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/the-state-of-saas-landing-pages/

0 notes