Big Data Will Change the World

After spending the last four years struggling to re-imagine and re-invent a storied video game developer, the author is taking a hiatus from the gaming software world and venturing into the emerging "big data" and "analytics" marketplace. It is an exciting journey that will be shared in this blog - with posts and updates on a regular basis. So on to the basics...

As Vince Lombardi once said: “If you’re not keeping score, you’re only practicing… not playing.” In business and institutional settings, analytics is how we keep score.

Analytics is defined as the process of analyzing statistical data to gain insight.  The depth and scope of insight to be gained is demonstrably substantial; so interest in metrics, analytics, infographics and visualization continues to grow in businesses and institutions.  In some settings, like federally-supported health care systems, moving to an analytics-based model is a mandate with looming deadlines.  In a sense, small-to-medium size businesses have some serious deadlines approaching as well.

For the most part, business executives understand the need to harness the power of “big data,” analytics and predictive analysis to stay competitive; but many have no idea where to begin, or how to transition to a data- and analytics-driven business model.  Much of the material in this post come from a Foreword that I wrote for a new e-book on the subject entitled: Analytics 2 Insight.

Quoted in a recent Forbes article, Michael Cristiani at Powerhouse Factories might have captured it best, telling Reuters that small businesses already have most of the data they need. “The world runs on data and analytics,” he said. “They’re starving for the insights.”

Analytics can be applied to identify trends, patterns, and anomalies so that businesses, institutions and agencies can lower costs; reduce risks, enhance performance and increase value through data-based decision making. 

Analytics is a powerful decision support tool, and is particularly useful to aligning strategy to business/institutional objectives. By combining statistics, operations, marketing, and financial analysis with data from internal and external sources, a better understanding of trends, patterns, and interactions can be established.  That is what insight is all about.

As Tech America Foundation's Federal Big Data Commission recently found: "Hidden in the immense volume, variety and velocity of data that is produced today is new information, facts, relationships, indicators and pointers, that either could not be practically discovered in the past, or simply did not exist before."

Analytics service engagements range from predictive and propensity modeling to sensor monitoring and anomaly detection. Analytics and “big data” are the next revolution in the digital world. Data visualization decreases time-to-insight, ensuring relevancy and magnifying actions and interventions. 

At the end of the day, it’s about collecting/capturing data, both internal and external, then analyzing the data based on key indicators so that the insight gleaned can be brought to bear on the mandates and challenges of delivering and documenting efficient, effective products and services to your customer base. This welcome trend is being driven by a combination of factors, including: competitive mandates, contractual mandates, savvy board directors and community partners.  And sometime in the not so distant future, there will be a serious price to pay for failure to comply.

Editor's Note: this is the first installment of a series of articles I have planned on the subject. So stay tuned, more to follow.  #BigData #Analytics #Metrics #NewBook #Business

SAAB Automobiles RIP | 1950 - 2011

Famously born from jet fighter planes, one of the quirkiest, most geeky car companies ever gave it up today. And it was a sad thing.

Sweden's SAAB Automobiles was not, after much time and effort, capable of sustaining its business model nor putting together the kind of deal to keep the company afloat in hard times. Management was in talks with potential Chinese white knights until the last possible moment. Then it all collapsed and the world lost a great and storied auto maker.

The author adored the 1976, red turbo 99 that graced more than one driveway for almost a decade. That was one wonderful car, one of the first to deploy a turbocharger, and a joy to drive and to look at.

So sure-footed on any kind of terrain. So nimble in the turns. So freaking much fun to drive. I can't tell you how many times that car got me out of nasty, slushy snow; or how it could virtually ford small streams. When on a skiing trip to Vail, Colorado, it was not surprising to find the local constabulary equipped with SAAB police cruisers. Uh-huh. That's right.

The best SAAB memory that remains with me these many years later, is driving all day through the southern Oregon forest and finding ourselves at dusk on an unmarked timber road.  But hey, we had the SAAB. No problem.

Will Ferrell Sticks It

Sure, there needs to be a greedy middleman in the healthcare equation. It's the American way. We want to give our hard-earned cash to Insurance giants who really, really care about us. Not like the evil government, oh no. I can count on my Insurance company to: raise my rates and my deductible on an annual basis like clockwork; to meddle in my private health care decisions; to contest virtually every claim; to pay only a percentage of costs leaving the rest for me to cover; and finally, to dump my sorry butt as soon as they are able. But that's who I want administering my health care program, deciding on my treatments, drugs and end-of-life care. Uh-huh. What can I count on the government for? What? National defense? Transportation infrastructure? Medicare? Pell grants for my college students? The court system? Air traffic control? You get the picture. Now watch this:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

HEALTH CARE
INSURANCE
WILL FERRELL
HC09

Take My Budweiser, Please!

You've got to be kidding. American politicians are lining up to oppose the sale of Budweiser manufacturer, Anheuser Busch, to Belgian brewer InBev. Read the Huffington Post story here. Is there no limit to the pandering of politicians during election cycles?

American beer drinkers should be incensed. InBev makes European standards Stella Artois, Becks Beer and St. Pauli Girl; three of the finest brews available. And the company also owns Labatt's of Canada, Australia's Castlemaine XXXX and Brazil's wildly popular Brahma Beer.

Not only would this acquisition make InBev the largest beer brewer in the world, it would provide American Beer drinkers access to Europe's far superior beer brewing technologies and traditions. A good thing, take it from me. If you can't bring yourself to admit the hopeless inferiority of most American mass-produced beer, conduct your own experiment. Buy a bottle of Stella, a bottle of Becks or St. Pauli Girl; and a bottle of Australia's Castlemaine XXXX. Blind taste any or all of these against an American Bud and decide for yourself which company you'd rather have brewing your beer. I'm guessing there'll be no contest.

That said, The Author remains a big fan of locally produced micro-brews. After all, this blog originates in the great American Pacific Northwest - home of the finest micro-breweries in the US. But if one judges global companies by the quality of their products, InBev certainly ranks right at the top of the beer sector of the beverage industry.

Budweiser
beer

Women in Business Decry Fed Contract Lockout

Okay, let me set the stage for this bit of unwelcome news. Females are a statistical majority of the US population: 50.8% according to the US Census Bureau. Women own 30 percent of all privately-owned businesses in the country and are awarded an insulting, paltry 3.4% of all Federal contracts - which total billions of dollars every year. Sound fair to you? I didn't think so.

Well, it gets worse. A group of women business owners recently sued the feds for actively delaying the implementation of steps designed to address this obvious disparity, and WON in DC's Federal Circuit Court. So the courts agree, the government is in fact actively interfering with efforts to award a fair number of federal contracts to women-owned businesses. Worse, the feds are actually delaying implementation of new rules. What's up with that? Read the Washington Post article here.

So let me get this straight. The "ole boys" club, who have been rigorously maintaining the glass ceiling for years now, continue to hold women back - even though they are now a majority of the population. So much for "...by the people, for the people..." This is especially counterintuitive as researchers and activists around the world discover that the best way to alleviate poverty is to give women cell phones and access to credit. That's right. This is just another turf battle over control of power and wealth, at the end of the day. Conservative, angry white men have always called the shots in the US and that is going to change sometime very soon. So there's fear-and-loathing on Wall Street and in male-dominated small businesses across the contry. Well, get used to it. And get a grip. Business and the economy benefit from diversity and increased competition, so we're told. And I believe it.

Predatory Business Practices

Did you know that almost one-half of the profits made by banks and wireless cell-phone carriers come from fees and penalties? Surprised? I didn't think so. But a recent study by two Harvard Business School professors confirms our worst nightmare. It's not big brother that's out to get us, it's big business. And they are getting us, in case you haven't already noticed. Fleecing us good, robbing us blind. SFGate.com and San Francisco Chron columnist David Lazarus writes about the abuse here. Thank you David.

It wasn't long ago that the customer was king. Now, we're told (when we can get a real human to talk to us) to shut-up and consume. Buy now, and buy big. There's always plastic. You know the story, it goes something like this: "...and for everything else there's Mastercard." Or, "Visa...everywhere you want to be." The message is clear: don't hesitate, you can have it now. But make one late payment, on any card you may own, and you'll pay a steep price. Forever. These predatory business want to own your soul, and that of your spouse, children and living relatives. Just look at the recent sub-prime housing mortgage scandal if you need more proof than your monthly credit-card statement.

First, the banks float the idea that anybody can own a home. Anybody. Doesn't matter if your credit score is below 650 and you're barely scraping by. No, "buy now" was the message. You can always sell for a profit later. Now, the American dream has been lost for a huge number of well-meaning, working-class folks who trusted their banks. Hey, how many of *you* read every word in your home mortgage agreement and did all the math?

And cell-phone companies are habitual offenders. Like insects sucking the blood of their customers with fees, charges and penalties; they actually design their programs to confuse their customers and increase their profit potentials in the process according to the Harvard report. That's what I'm talking about: Predatory business practices that seek to dupe trusting customers with disingenuous products and services that are actually designed to rip us off. This kind of corporate behavior is now the rule, rather than the exception. And we tolerate it. We hold for hours; patiently negotiate online forms; and submit multiple inquiries, requests and volumes of documentation to no avail. Give me a break. This model, as the academics correctly note, is not going to win friends and create loyal customers in the long run. But we're talking a feeding fenzy here. I can find no evidence of any long-term planning at all, just a wild, greedy rush to profit in any way possible.

This is a long rant, but there are so many examples that beg attention. Large Pharma refusing to develop new antibiotics because they're concentrating on drugs that people need to take every day. It's a profit thing, after all. What an excellent argument for nationalized, single-payer health coverage. Airlines devaluing their frequent flier programs, overbooking to excess and then tolerating delay rates approaching 70 percent. And don't even get me started on the insurance industry. When you have to sue your provider to recover from a hurricane, you're not in good hands.

I think we need a good, old-fashioned consumer revolt sometime soon. Buy local, support only ethical businesses, and vote with your wallet or pocketbook. It's time to heat up the tar and start collecting feathers. No wonder Halliburton moved its corporate headquarters out of the country to Dubai. Angry consumers (like this one) are spoiling for a fight. We could use a sympathetic big brother to watch our backs. So let's make sure to elect one next time around.