Big Data Uses Not Limited to Big Business

Big data isn't just for businesses. Even local municipal governments, and their citizens, can benefit from harnessing its powers. "Big Data and a Brave New World" looks at several approaches to big data based on the author's experience at Chicago's recent meeting on the subject.

The city of Chicago has two leaders in its foray into the world of big data. John Tolva is the newly appointed chief technology officer and Brett Goldstein is the city's chief data officer. With cities, it is important to use data for three kinds of analysis: historical, spatial and predictive. 

Predictive analysis of municipal and large data sets is hard not to get excited about. The article referenced above summarized Goldstein's experience with this technology:

Brett Goldstein spoke of the work he did while at the Chicago Police Department where they collected data and built algorithms so they could predict incidents within 48 hours. These city officials also emphasized the power of locational or spatial data. By collecting a lot of different data about a single location, your ability to do real time situational analysis is extraordinary.

With this kind of technology everything from health, crime and economic growth can be predicted. In the same way that big data is not only for business, neither is ROI. 

Megan Feil, May 29, 2012

Usage of Open Source Technologies Steadily Climbing; No Signs of Slowing

Innovation and excitement are born with the intersection of new technologies. The Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) 2012 that begins May 21 in San Francisco is highlighted as evidence for these merging technologies in the article, "Open Source Finds Its Way Into Mobile Cloud Big Data." Mobility, cloud computing and big data are the hot topics on the bill at this conference for open source enthusiasts.

The heightened interest in open source has been most noticeable in the last two years. There were 10,000 new mobile open-source projects started in 2011. That number grew from a mere 4,000 in 2010, according to the survey by Black Duck Software.

The article states:

As further evidence of the increasing adoption of open-source software, the survey revealed that 32 percent of respondents said that at least 75 percent of the computer code used in their organization is open-source code and that 30 percent said that between 51 percent and 75 percent of their code is open source. Also, the top three advantages to using open-source software are avoiding vendor lock-in with proprietary software, lowering costs and the quality of the software. 

Familiarity seems to be the biggest hurdle open source software faces. While it is commonplace in many organizations and communities, others have yet to catch on. Of those not deploying open source solutions, 47 percent cited a lack of internal technical skills and 35 percent cited a lack of formal commercial vendor support. 

Fortunately for vendors, IT, and business executives, the numbers for businesses using open source technology are growing higher. The pattern shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. We are looking forward to see what other innovations PolySpot open source technology has in store.

Megan Feil, May 29, 2012

Commonalities Found in Innovative Enterprise Apps

The Guardian has a contest underway which honors the most innovative technologies in the private and pubilc sectors. Their website has a list of contenders and a brief description of each in the article, Shortlist: Innovation in Enterprise.

There is quite the variety in the shortlist. With the public interest in mind, Shoothill has created the world's first visual representation of flood information. Going for the social idea, this app is linked with facebook and its not the only one capitalizing on the innovation possible in the social realm.

RPC Law Firm also sees room to grow within social media:

By launching a customised suite of social media tools called Edge inside the business, and encouraging our lawyers to play and be creative with those tools. Whilst other firms are umming and ahhing about whether social technology is a worthwhile investment, we've been using the tools for over a year to create bespoke apps for us and our clients.

Another app in the running is Pocker Physio by UK Specialist Hospitals. This is a free app available to anyone, but specifically provided to NHS patients on iPads.

These three UK apps illustrate some of the larger patterns at work here. Enterprise apps are created with the purpose to connect and serve customers, clients and employees. Innovation in this area is about finding niches that have not been met through the medium of apps, yet.

Megan Feil, May 29, 2012

Information Management Today Requires Disruptive Technology

Disruptive technologies are becoming even more of a necessity in the information management realm. With the forces of mobility, the cloud and big data at work, the time is now. "Gartner lists 10 Disruptive Technologies for Business Information Management" discusses some of the major patterns in business and technology forcing new information management strategies into place.

The main interest organizations have today lies in accessing both information and applications from a variety of places and devices. This is seen in Gartner's ordered list, which includes: media tablets and beyond, mobile-centric applications and interfaces, contextual and social user experience, Internet of Things, app stores and marketplaces, next-generation analytics, big data, in-memory computing, extreme low-energy servers, and cloud computing.

According to the article referenced above:

Linked to that consumerization and mobile movement are new analytic solutions and strategies, according to Gartner. Gaughan says that mobile, social and contextual analytics are following through on end-user control and analysis of data, causing increased interest in technology that can comb through unstructured data and access it as closely to real time as possible, which touches on another strategic trend, in-memory computing.

There is, of course, some debate about the hype cycle for all of these technologies and concepts. The article briefly mentions this specifically in regards to cloud computing.

We will see how these elements work together and play out in the form of new technology as business interests continue to evolve. For now, we're placing our bets on agile search infrastructure solutions + apps.

Megan Feil, May 29, 2012

Big Data Analytics Expected to Help Foster Startup Growth

Its no little known fact that most startups die before they really begin. In our age of big data, there is no reason for this to happen. The article, "Stop Flying Blind: Use Big Data to Benchmark Your Startup," explains how entrepreneurs can utilize information drawn from big data analytics in order to benchmark their performance against the competition to identify strengths and areas for improvement. 

Startup Compass co-founder and serial entrepreneur Bjoern Lasse Herrmann told ReadWriteWeb:

Startups can learn three key things. First, which key performance indicators actually matter. Most startups don’t even know which KPIs they should track or why they should track them. Second, they learn how their KPIs compare to other companies’ KPIs so they will know if they’re on the right track. See, for example, their customer acquisition costs. The third thing they learn is what actions they need to be taking. We help businesses take the next steps.

This kind of big data technology is a package deal that startups may want to consider next to other big data analytics technology. There are other solutions with a broader approach that would leave room for growth as a company's business intelligence needs change with growth. Now, that's ROI.

Megan Feil, May 28, 2012