Great Books

digital transitioning of businesses

10 books to read on companies digital transformation

“Digitalising your company”, “taking the turn of the digital revolution” or “seizing the opportunities of digital transformation”: these expressions are now part of our daily lives. However, despite their omnipresence in the media, these concepts are still unclear to many people, including the people who are primarily concerned: decision-makers in the business world.

However, when we know that today 93% of Internet users do research on the web before acquiring a good or a service, it seems more than ever essential for a company to increase its presence on the Internet.

So, here is a list of 10 books that will help you better understand the challenges and specificities related to the digitalization of companies.

21 keys to activate the digital transformation of your company (J.Gregoire & G.Auberger – 2017)

Written by digital experts (entrepreneurs and experts in this sector), this book reveals 21 processes to put in place to bring your company into the digital age. Far from abstract theories, this book has the advantage of being based on concrete examples from everyday life to easily show the reader the benefits to be gained from digital tools such as Big Data or Social CRM.

What Google wants… Understanding SEO (B.Thiers & J.Ringard – 2016)

Gaining visibility on the web is an increasingly important objective for business leaders. But to achieve it, it is still necessary to understand the criteria taken into account by Google to display such or such site on the first page at the end of a search. This book is what you need if you want to know the strategies to adopt to be better detected by the algorithms of this American giant (knowing that this search engine holds 93% of the market share in France).

Digital transformation: seizing digital opportunities for business (Pascal Delorme & Jilani Djellalil – 2015)

If you still have any doubts about the extent of the digital changes that are taking place, this book is sure to dispel them. Based on a wealth of documentation, it highlights many of the burgeoning digital tools and shows you how best to use them in your business. Both detailed and accessible, this book is ideal for anyone who wants to have a clear and comprehensive view of the range of actions to be taken in business to seize digital opportunities.

More on digital transformation in this article!

Tous digitalisés : et si votre futur avait commencé sans vous ? (M. Diaz – 2015)

“An e-business icon, Manuel Diaz has published his first book to remind business leaders that being on the Net is not enough to exist”: this is the catchy comment that the newspaper Paris Normandie praised the merits of this book when it was published in October 2015. This book gives you all the keys you need to better anticipate the challenges of the digital revolution, and explains how the new connected tools are capable of changing the lives of your customers and your employees.

Digital, employment and skills: New land, straight ahead! (G.Karsenti & A.Roumilhac – 2016)

This book stands out from the others because of the atypical profile of its authors: two leaders of large companies (the President of ManpowerGroup France and the CEO of Hewlett Packard Entreprise France). Based on their personal experience, they give us their practical recommendations for anchoring their company in the digital transformation. For them, the status quo is not an option: you must constantly adapt to grow.

Enterprise: mutate or perish: facing the uberisation of the world (D.Marquet &E.Rencker- 2016)

A recent neologism coined by the American giant Uber, uberisation is a process that is now at work in almost all sectors of activity. However, this phenomenon, which refers to the facilitated relationship between professionals and their clients thanks to new technologies, is not only a win-win situation. This book describes the risks that a company runs if it remains inactive in the face of digital transformations, and conversely highlights the tremendous growth opportunities that are open to any company whose key words are mobility and interactivity.

Social networks and business: good practices (C.Balagué & D.Fayon – 2012)

This book was published 5 years ago, but the issues it addresses are still relevant today. Through a detailed analysis of the major functions of the company (human resources, marketing, sales…), the two authors explain how to optimize the use of your social networks to increase the visibility of your brand. A particularly relevant passage on e-reputation is included.
A particularly relevant section on e-reputation will also reveal the strategies to adopt to maintain your image as an expert on the internet.

Digital transformation: 5 levers for the company (D.Fayon & M.Tartar – 2014)

Your company has a website, a Twitter account and you even have a webmaster on staff? This is a good start, but is your company at the forefront of digital transformation? To find out, read this book: it will definitely help you determine the digital maturity of your company. It will help you to better understand the perception that Internet users have of you and thus conquer new market shares.

The digital transformation of companies (D.Autissier & E.Métais Wiersch – 2016)

Taking inspiration from the success of large companies is often an effective method for finding good ideas to replicate (adapting them if necessary of course) within your own company. Thanks to this book, you will discover the digital strategies implemented by 5 companies that have agreed to share their digital experience: Axa, Pernod Ricard, Sanofi France, Schneider Electric and Les Echos. This book is essential if you are looking to identify the consequences of the digital revolution based on concrete examples from companies.

The digital consumer: new approaches to seduction (N.Riou – 2016)

Finally, here is a book that differs from the 9 previous ones by the point of view it analyses: that of the consumer. All the digital transformation strategies of companies only make sense if they respond to a demand from customers, so it is essential to better understand their practices and expectations. Thanks to this book, the 2.0 consumer will have (almost) no secrets for you!

web hosting for dummies book

Web Hosting for Dummies: A book worth reading if you are a serious WordPress website owner!

Written by a blogger, author, stay at home dad from California, the author ran a web hosting business for 9 years and found that many of his friends or clients running websites did not understand the fundamentals of website hosting.

The author is openly in love with the WordPress CMS which is a plus for you if you are using this CMS as his presentation if mainly focused on this Content Management System. You can find this book here on Amazon.

Here are a few of our take aways from this quality publication:

WordPress Web hosting and loading speed: what are the challenges?

Because there is always something to optimize, e-merchants are looking for solutions to improve their traffic, their rebound rate (the number of users who visit only one page of the site before leaving) or their conversion rate. If part of the work is related to webmarketing aspects (offer, content, ergonomics) there are also technical aspects on which it is possible to play.

The computer hosting of the website is one of them. In this article we will look at how a website’s loading speed affects its performance, and we will look at how to improve this loading speed, especially from the point of view of server optimizations.

The loading speed of a website influences both its positioning in search engines and its commercial performance. This is indeed what large e-commerce showcases such as Amazon, Shopzilla, Google or Bing would have measured.

  • For Amazon, 100 ms of additional loading time results in a 1% reduction in sales
  • 500 ms of additional loading causes Google to reduce its search time by 20%.
  • 1 second of additional loading time results in 4% less revenue per user at Bing
  • For Shopzilla, five seconds less loading time would improve turnover by 7 to 12%.

Google loading speed and algorithms

This is why search engines such as Google have included speed as a loading factor since 2010. And what you need to know is that for Google a fast site is a site that loads in less than 1.4 seconds. This raises a lot of questions, the first being, how can Google measure the loading speed of sites? To measure this speed, Google uses cookies, including its Google Chrome browser and the Google Toolbar.

According to a French study from the GESTE / Cedexis Observatory, the results of which were published in 2015, the median loading time of websites in France has slightly increased. It is 6 seconds, compared to 6.5 last December. But this is still a long way from the 1.4 seconds Google expects. In other words, for most websites, there is a significant margin for improvement.

website hosting for wordpress sites

Small tips to improving loading speed

There is a simple way to improve the loading speed of your website. For example, one of the first reflexes to have and reduce the weight of his images. Indeed, the images displayed on computers are limited by the screen resolutions anyway. There is therefore no point in working with large files, which will instead delay the loading of the page.

Another trick is to call the scripts at the bottom of the page just before the “body” tag so as not to slow down the loading of the page even if all the scripts are not yet loaded.

Using Caching on Your WordPress Site

WordPress is a dynamic content creator. That is to say that via PHP and your database, it creates dynamic pages by integrating your static elements: style sheets, animations, images, texts, etc. Without caching, the user’s browser will retrieve from your server all the static content of the page each time it is loaded. This is costly in time and resources.

CSS, which allows you to format your content, and JS, which displays dynamic content (sliders, countdowns, etc.), are useful for your site but take a long time to load.
Caching allows you to generate a “copy” of all these elements of your page that is used by browsers when users return to your site, without going through your server. This greatly optimizes the loading speed of a WordPress site, since browsers already know what styles, texts, images, etc. they should display.
To enable caching on your WordPress site, there are several free and paid plugins, but I would recommend only one, a paid one: WP Rocket.

Loading speed and improvement on the WordPress hosting side

On the hosting side, many actions are also possible.

  • check that the hosting is adapted to the use of the site (number of requests, volume of traffic…). Indeed, the machine must be powerful enough, have adequate RAM and allow to absorb traffic peaks during periods of seasonal activity (load balancing).
  • have a hosting in which the system software and applications are up to date (apache version, PHP library…)
  • use caches possible on the server side
  • use compression modules that will compress data between the server and browser
  • use a CDN system to delegate some of the hosting to other servers

As for the use of CDN, this is particularly useful when users are located in different geographical locations around the world.
Thus, these technical optimizations will prove particularly useful to improve the loading speed of sites, and almost essential if the site concerned is an e-commerce site that must constantly optimize its performance.

If you work with a CMS such as WordPress, you will find the meilleur hebergeur wordpress here and some tips can be given such as limiting the number of modules and regularly cleaning the database.

It is important for e-merchants to be able to benefit from assistance in sizing their platform and the associated service levels that will enable them to match the performance of their website with their loading time requirements.

To this end, we must not forget the importance for e-commerce sites of the security offered by a specialized and professional hosting.

Thus, in addition to an accelerated loading time favouring the conversion rates of users

andrea antonopoulos

Review Andrea Antonopoulos Book The Internet of Money

the internet of money vol 2Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are a form of payment system done on the internet. A lot of people have heard and even used this method but thanks to the author Andreas M. Antonopoulos now we can get an in-depth understanding of what the system is all about especially for the beginners.

The book explains the importance of Bitcoin and why one should consider using this method. Introduced back in 2008, we can say that Bitcoin is going to take over the world since it has changed the lives of thousands of business owners. The fact that the system offers financial independence makes it one of the methods to look out for according to Antonopoulos. A much debated topic as you can see here!

What should you expect to learn from the internet of money book?

• The purpose of the Bitcoin.

Andrew explains the importance of the Bitcoin to the business owners and further suggests that it is one of the newest and best inventions that is going to upgrade and improve the digital currency world.

• The technical function of the system.

In the book, Andreas has also explained various functions that Bitcoin is going to impact the entire world with for the coming few years. First off, as we all know the world is evolving digital wise where people are easily connected with different kinds of internet systems like the social media and so on. Andreas believes that the same way that the internet has impacted and improved our modes of communication, the digital money system is also going to change our economy, political and other social lives positively. This is because the system is one way of creating decentralization among the people.

• Learn about currency independence.

bitcoin and crypto currenciesOther essential information that you can learn from the book is how the system of cryptocurrency gives the users or the current owners the power and privacy in manning their money online. Therefore, the book provides precise information to those who are interested in the digital money system and how it can transform their lives in different ways.

• Gives an in-depth understanding of the Tech behind called Blockchain.

Note that Andreas has been posting a lot of videos educating people about Bitcoin. Also, other people have been giving tutorial teachings on how to use this system. But, this well-outlined book of digital money provides an understanding of the most critical parts of the system. Some readers have also recommended the book for having given them a clear understanding of how the digital money system is going to impact the world at large. Furthermore, if you are a beginner, the book will give you an excellent introduction to Bitcoin and what the system is all about.

• The book discusses the history of money.

Am sure a lot of people do not know about the origin of money but this book by Andreas takes us through the evolution of money. The book also talks about the importance of money, its relation to the society all the way to the invention and introduction of Bitcoin. He closes with a good paragraph related to crypto currency security and how to protect your investments with hardware wallets such as the Trezor or Ledger Nanos S (Test Ledger Nano S)

Conclusion.

If you are a beginner or you would want to learn one or two things about the cryptocurrency, get yourself a copy of this magnificent book by Andreas. The book consists of everything you need to know about Bitcoin system and if you want to get even a broader understanding watch Andreas videos on Youtube.

The Last Valentine A Labyrinth of Love Letters Novel

The Last Valentine: A Labyrinth of Love Letters Novel

This book was published in February 2017 by Felix Alexander

Set in Puerto Rico before the dust had settled from the Spanish-American War, The Last Valentine begins with Olivia Villalobos discovering a bloodstained love letter in a coat belonging to her father, Chief Inspector, Sedenoa. Intrigued about why her father is apparently hiding the letter from the police station, Olivia suspects it is related to an unsolved murder that recently occurred in the community.

amazing story and bookAfter discussing the letter with her best friend, Isaac, Olivia decides that the two of them must get the letter to its intended recipient, which means finding the Labyrinth of Love Letters. Believed by many locals to be merely an urban legend, other older citizens claimed the Labyrinth was a real series of secret tunnels created beneath the historic district of Old Sienna so that forbidden lovers could keep their love alive through the exchange of love letters.

Determined to locate the secret Labyrinth of Love Letters, Olivia and Isaac set out on a journey that leads to the opening of the metaphorical “Pandora’s Box,” where forbidden love, lies, greed, corruption, and murder are all revealed. Surprisingly, Olivia and Isaac also learn secrets about their parents and family history that could change everything they know about love.

Throughout their search for the Labyrinth of Love Letters, both Olivia and Isaac must make hard choices about who they truly love, and how it will affect their timeless friendship.

A combination of history, mystery, and romance, The Last Valentine hooks you from the beginning with its intriguing, unique plot and holds you spellbound until the end. With a writing style likened to popular authors, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabella Allende, Felix Alexander’s lyrical and poetic and prose emphasizes the romanticism of The Last Valentine. Beautiful place description and word usage take the reader back in time to Old Sienna, Puerto Rico, amid the Spanish architecture and foggy cemetery scenes.

The only critical comment I can make about this book is that it sometimes chronicles the history of several minor characters. Before long, I found myself wondering who was who, and how are they relate to the plot–so, this novel could use better development. Moreover, there are some grammatical and punctuation errors here and there that should be edited, although they did not take anything away from the story for me. The conclusion is predictable–not necessarily a happy ending—but an immensely satisfying one.

The Last Valentine is one of those books that stays with you long after you have read the last page. Its unique plot, romantic mystique, and esthetic prose leave a lasting mark upon you, and for this reason, I gladly give it a 5/5 stars rating.

Turtles all the way down

Turtles all the way down : A great Book

This is a book by John Green, and it’s a metaphor that expresses the `infinite regress` complication in cosmology. This metaphor relates to the mythological idea of a unique turtle that can support the earth on its back.

Additionally, this phrase shows that the turtle rests on the back of an even bigger turtle. The bigger turtle is part of an increasingly significant amount of turtles that has an infinite structure. Also, this saying is also used to refer to the complication of endless regress in epistemology. It demonstrates that there is an important foundation to knowledge in life.

The story follows the life of Sixteen-year-old Aza. She never intended to pursue the mystery of a famous fugitive that was known as Russell Pickett. That said, there is a high reward available, and her close pal Daisy is also eager to investigate the story. The two work together to work on the small divides that exist in between them and Russell’s son, David. Aza is trying to be a good person in life while managing her tormenting though patterns,

About the book

john greenJohn Green has developed an exciting novel since his last release in 2012 which was known as the `The Fault in Our Stars. ` The story features a small group of tenderhearted and exciting teenagers. They are also nerds, and they are often caught discussing knowledge topics. This including the hermeneutics of start wars, astronomy, geography and more.

It’s important to note that most characters in Greens story are often portrayed as annoying. For instance, Daisy is portrayed as overbearing, yet warm and reliable at the same time. The tornado of thoughts that power Aza`s illness are difficult to manage and awkward in some instances.

John Green has done well to document the activities that occur in teenage life. He has managed to demonstrate the insecurities that compromise the lives of youth in many ways. While most of his characters are troubled and complicated, they often demonstrate with and a geeky sense of personality.

Aza suffers from OCD and anxiety. What is more appalling is that her case is severe, which makes it difficult to manage medically and personally. OCD is a complication that is associated with repetitive behaviors and this similar to Aza`s case. In fact, she has a self-inflicted wound on her finger. She constantly reopens the wound regularly to clean and sanitize it.

Additionally, she has intrusive thoughts that are key to the story. For instance, Aza is obsessed with the ecosystem of bacteria that lives in her body. She never stops worrying about the rumble that occurs in her gut and attributes them to microbes. More so, she never stops worrying about the chance of touching someone who is sweating or the prospect of sweating as well.

Finally

In conclusion, `turtles all the way down` is an excellent read for book enthusiasts. The unique way in which John Green presents his stories and themes are unrivaled. There are even rumors of the story being developed into a movie very recently.

CHRISTOPHER HILL The Changing Politics of Foreign Policy Basingstoke

CHRISTOPHER HILL The Changing Politics of Foreign Policy Basingstoke, Palgrave/MacMillan, 2003,376 pages.

fgzglnzspgpzboszbcobocbcccChristopher Hill, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, is one of the leading British authors interested in foreign policy, particularly in the European context. Several of his previous publications have dealt with both the Europeanisation of the foreign policies of the Member States of the European Union and the emergence of the EU as an international actor.

The book he gives us here is more general, since it deals with foreign policy as a “mediation process” aimed at linking national societies to international society, in the shattered context of the post-Cold War era, the erosion of Westphalian sovereignty and globalization. Foreign policy is then broadly defined from the outset as the sum of official external relations conducted by an independent actor (usually a State) in international relations.

Theoretically, the author calls for a “liberal realism” (p. 37) recognizing both international insecurities as a fundamental feature of international relations and the possibility of promoting multilateral cooperation based on shared values (human rights, environment, etc.).

Above all, however, C. Hill’s aim in this book on foreign policy is to revitalize a category of the study of international relations neglected by neo-realists. They are too interested in the structure of the international system regarding the distribution of power and not enough in the internal structure of States; by neoliberals, who focus on the processes of cooperation and international organizations. This is done by the transnationalist school, which tends to disqualify C. Hill is quite convincing here when he seeks to demonstrate the need to renew the study of foreign policy by keeping the “meta-theories” of international relations (such as realism or constructivism) at arm’s length and by using intermediate theories, such as the postulate that democracies are not at war (chapters 1 and 2).

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the answer to Robert Dahl’s famous question (who governs?), here transposed to foreign policy (p. 53), is also classic: it is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, under the control of the head of state or government.

Nor are there any very original developments on the place of advisers and other eminent greys, or on that of the secret services (pp. 66 et seq.). The author is insisting as much on the key role they played in the anti-Hitler strategy of a Churchill as on the relative negligence in which they would have held De Gaulle at the beginning of the Fifth Republic.

Let us turn to the somewhat journalistic aspect of the pages devoted to the impact of the disease or nervous breakdown of statesmen on their foreign policy (p. 60), even if some anecdotes are not lacking in salt (the fifty-one phone calls made by Nixon in one night, at the height of the Watergate scandal).