SigmaWay Blog

Vendors intent to make big data analytics accessible because although it is relatively cheaper to work in Hadoop and NoSQL but practically it is costlier in the sense that it is hard and there is a lack of talent.  The following ways to make big data available are featured below:

• Developers love Couchbase mobile - Couchbase mobile has acquired importance lately due to the creation of mobile apps that may work with or without internet connection.
• Can datawatch make everyone big data expert?                                       
•  Platfora remedies big data disillusionment - Introduction of Platfora 4.5 helps data scientists to derive big data insights in remarkable time.
• Cubes on Hadoop?                                   
•  Wrapping up the pieces - Companies takes maximum advantage of big data but is also apprehensive of the challenges to overcome                                                                                                                                                                                                                      For further details on this study, please follow the link: http://www.cmswire.com/big-data/big-data-bits-big-data-for-all-edition/

Cloud providers are striving hard to earn profits. Some are comparing this situation to the infamous dot-com bubble of the 2000s which was characterized by the growth of various internet companies despite suffering from huge losses. There are multiple reasons behind these struggles like few believe that it is the result of over emphasizing on investments in sales and marketing while others argue that cloud providers cut down prices due to constant price wars. It is always necessary for IT workers to have an exit strategy so that they can get their data out of cloud whenever the need arises. Therefore, backups of critical apps and data should be kept at secured locations as they are crucial for running businesses.

Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/lack-of-profits-a-troubling-sign-for-cloud-providers

One of the ways to track what a customer sees is with product impression- keeping an account of the products displayed on the page that the customer visits. While this is an easy way of extracting data it has one major problem. A page usually contains multiple products and it is not necessary that just because a person lands on a particular page he is interested in all the displayed products. The more obvious outcome maybe that he might not be actually be viewing all the products displayed at one go- limited screen space- the reason we scroll.
The solution: Scroll based impression tracking.
Instead of automatically assuming all items to be desirable we segregate the page in accordance to the customer’s view- we only track the products visible to the customer. Once the customer starts scrolling we track only the products for which the customer stops scrolling and rank items according to the time spent viewing them. Double counting of products is avoided.
Scroll based impression tracking gives a much more accurate measure of a customer’s propensity of buying a particular product than the traditional product impression method.
For more information visit:
http://content.infotrustllc.com/infotrust-blog/how-to-setup-enhanced-ecommerce-impression-the-right-way-using-scroll-tracking

Internet of Things is set to digitize the world, with sensory technology in devices, feeding real time data to the internet. It is projected to have economic impact of $3.9 trillion to $11.1 trillion by 2025.
Such impact requires favorable groundwork, like interoperability between IoT systems and data generated must be used to its maximum. There is large potential in developing countries; customers will capture most benefits with users in businesses and other organization with remote monitoring in healthcare etc. The digitization of machines is a revolutionary idea, and even shows promise at this infant stage. Capturing full potential will require innovation and investment.To know more: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/the_internet_of_things_the_value_of_digitizing_the_physical_world

Internet of things is projected to take the world by storm. Ben Rossi (author) talks about how IoT will affect simple devices from a wristwatch to a tractor, and process usage data in real time. This will improve marketing efficiency and speedup campaigns. Large volumes of data will imply linkages and collaborations between marketers, data analyst and IoT enablers. Troubleshooting will be a new experience, with solutions coming up in real time. Customer profiling will be more complete, as devices can now integrate user activity full time. This will provide insight into customer behavior and hence provide instant solutions based on preference patterns.
 To know more: http://www.information-age.com/it-management/strategy-and-innovation/123459628/4-key-internet-things-analytics-trends-marketing-pros

It's technology on the rocks for whisky lovers. Diageo using new technology to improve its customer experience. They have created a label (read sensor) that will create smart bottles for their whisky. Laura Denham, International Events Director at Innovation enterprise, enlightens us with the smartness of smart bottles. 

• Well, it gives specific information about the whisky helping the customer to select their best fit.

• It helps detect any kind of tampering with the bottle. Fake products will be a history.

• These sensors can’t be cloned. 

• Help track the journey of the bottles and reduce supply chain wastage. 

For more, follow the link http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/whiskey-the-internet-of-things

Security remains a chief inhibitor to enterprise adoption of cloud computing resources. The most significant risk in using the cloud is that sensitive data can be leaked. The macro trend is that more data is going to more end-user devices, which makes controlling the data more difficult and creating more vulnerabilities. With a data classification scheme, organizations can prioritize which data needs to be heavily secured.  David Canellos, President and CEO of Perspecsys, points out 7 cloud security mistake that can be avoided. What more you get 7 safety tips too. To know more follow the link http://cloudtweaks.com/2015/07/7-cloud-security-mistakes-bound-to-bite-you/

A company must protect itself from viral attacks and hackers. Such hackers have been in existence for as long as the internet has existed and they make a living out of stealing important business information by selling them in the market to the highest bidders online which can cause terrible damage to the reputation of company in question. The appropriate way to go about this is to install malware removal software’s on all the computers and also ensure protection of their private business and assets. Some other ways to ensure this protection are:

• Sufficient disaster recovery layouts: since virus and malwares on the computer can wipe away important data and ruin the business in seconds, efficient systems for disaster recovery should be in place so that information back up is restored at that very moment after the attack ensuring no loss is incurred. Professionals should be hired for such tasks.

• Effective virus protection should be installed since sensitive information about the business as well as of the employees once leaked can lead to several other problems and regular security checks should be done to ensure everything is updated and new viruses are detected instantly.

• It’s always necessary for the company to regulate the employee’s access to the computers so that information is not mishandled. Every employee must have his own work station and not mingle with others work which ensures no personal information exchange.

Such practices can definitely help the business data stay protected in the long run if followed properly.

Read more at: http://www.smartdatacollective.com/peterdavidson/320351/how-ensure-protection-critical-business-data

BYOD (bring your own device) refers to the policy of allowing employees to bring personally owned devices to workplace and access the company's information and application on it. This practice has made major inroads as it helps save cost and ensure productivity gains especially with the variety of devices like tables, smartphone, tabs, laptops etc. at the disposal of the employee. However, BYOD is fraught with security concerns. Such security breaches can outweigh the gains one expects from it. Keith Poyester in an article elaborates on the challenges with BYOD policy and suggests 8 best practices for BYOD security. To know more follow the link http://www.itproportal.com/2015/06/28/great-debate-to-byod-or-not-to-byod/

# Technologies like self-service and social media are important, if insurers need to communicate, face-to-face, with customers, since, it is the best form of transferring information, till date. People working on data insights need good communication skills to convey their findings to customers, who may not understand the technical language.
# Organizational collaboration is always important between two institutions if they are supposed to work together, so that they can share their technologies and focus on other business priorities, in harmony.
# As customers are generating more and more data, insurers are turning to analytics in order to interpret the data.
# With increasing data security breaches, insurers need skills to address the vulnerabilities and manage the situation in case of a security breach.
# Insurance technology professionals must be ready to embrace the evolving technology in order to survive the competition.
# Insurers need to think creatively of utilizing the multitude of technologies, available, in order to improve customer relations.
# Social media skills are required to build customer relations, as well as, create a brand image for the concern. 
Read more at:

http://www.insurancetech.com/management-strategies/7-tech-skills-for-insurance-pros-/d/d-id/1319170?image_number=2

Healthcare is being revolutionized by the advent of big data. New gadgets and technologies are aiding this transition. A continuous stream of health related data promises us the concept of continuous healthcare. This data will enable us to study behavioral changes among patients and diagnose problems better and faster. Real time disease management is fast becoming a reality and it will be even possible to tend to patients in the early stages of their disorders and take steps accordingly. Real time monitoring of treatment efficacy will immensely help in post-operative care, drug therapy. It also holds the power to point out which patients merit additional intervention. Read more at:

http://www.dataversity.net/how-big-data-will-enable-continuous-healthcare/

Data science techniques are becoming increasingly popular these days to improve business outcomes. Hadoop, already showcased the broader use of big data technologies and their impact on businesses. In this new age, the limits of machine learning are constantly being tested as innovators are trying new techniques that decrease human intervention as much as possible. Companies are ready to work with the data they have in Hadoop. Penetration of SQL on Hadoop has been a great help as they have created an environment that has made data accessible to downstream apps and learning algorithms. Machine intelligence is catching up in all spheres, data science is becoming a new trend with data scientists coming in demand. To know more, please follow:

http://www.dataversity.net/predictions-for-data-science-over-the-coming-years/

Suppose, if wearable were introduced into the workforce which could monitor about the employee wearing. How would be like?  The fact is that data collected from such wearable were used at an individual level, many might not welcome the idea as it might terminate employment for unhealthy employees. Nowadays, organizations engage employees rewarding their performances. Regular feedback helps directly for employees better perform thus affecting growth of the organization. With changing demands, if employees share their information through smart-watch, organizations should reward them empowering those employees. Though many might not like the concept but none can deny the internet of things (IoT) getting into our daily lives. Meanwhile, many organizations are already on their way to adopt this technology. Read more about this article at:  https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7582-getting-the-best-out-of-wearables-with-your-workforce

Internet of Things (IOT) has been evolving over time and it has moved beyond controlling networks to improve connectivity among devices, systems, people, services and things. The companies which are not manufacturers, retailers, telecoms or logistic providers have also been benefitted by IOT. Shelly Dutton (a valued contributor to business2community.com) in her article in business2community.com has mentioned the four trends about Internet of Things that we need to revise and they are as:

 1. Change is already in progress and widespread.

2. The IOT conversation addresses different things to different organizations.

3. The IOT is no longer just "cool" - it is transformative.

4. Federal governments are getting on board.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/these-4-things-will-change-your-outlook-on-the-internet-of-things-01259990

The dynamic interaction between human and artificial intelligence, is going to revolutionize the way, people perceive their IOT (Internet of Things) environment. IoT has numerous applications in businesses, from products like intelligent refrigerator and self-driven cars, to impacting a company’s costs and earnings. Artificial intelligence can help in understanding, say the time required to service a product, the cost incurred in the process and also the substitutes of the product. This knowledge helps in reducing production cost, generates new revenue opportunities, and also aids in diversification of the company in terms of new products. Read more at: 

http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/24/the-internet-of-everything-how-iot-and-machine-learning-will-revolutionize-your-business-webinar/

There is huge amount of data and searching for ways to use that data can seem terrifying. Although very little of this data is useful, more and more can be extracted for useful patterns and information. This portion of the useful data is called “Big Data”. For now Big Data is a good way for any company to gain advantage but in the coming ten years use of Big Data will be inevitable. Cloud computing and things like Hadoop and NoSQL provide data analyzing tools to several businesses and entrepreneurs to help analyze the right data sets. Experts on Big Data give some useful tips on how to use this technology.
Know the problem you are trying to solve.
The better way to think about the use of Big Data is to consider it as a tool to solve challenges. Once the problem is identified the data can be used to find a solution.
Start small and grow.
It is a good idea to run a trial analysis and see if it solves the problem. If it doesn’t then you haven’t risked much and if it’s a success you will come out with useful data.
Choose the right data.
 Although it can be difficult to find data, data should be combined from different places to obtain the most useful ones.
Move Fast.
Big Data is not only about analyzing information but also acting on it in real time so that all parts of the company is moving towards a common target and can make the most out of the available data.
Read More at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemontgomery/2015/05/07/small-businesses-shouldnt-fear-big-data/

Next time while you are trying to log in and the "remember your password?" window pops up, think before hitting yes. Password managers help users sync their usernames and password so they can choose strong passwords which are hard to guess, thereby reducing the risk of hacking. But if the password manager fails, putting all the passwords in one place would be regretted since now all the accounts run a risk of security breach. Password manager stores passwords either on the user's machine or uses cloud-based security. Both could turn unsafe as the former is vulnerable to malware and in the latter case the password is sent to remote servers. To know more, read: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/17/do-we-really-want-to-keep-all-our-digital-eggs-in-one-basket

The modern era is a digital one and it's often heard that if someone isn't digitizing his organization then he would perhaps lose his competitive edge.  The structure of an enterprise plays a crucial role in digitization. This structure and strategy ensures whether the resources are successfully assigned and also that the company is moving in the right direction. Various firms are arranged into vertical aligned business which poses severe challenges for them and hence nowadays digital transformation team arranges them horizontally to generate beneficial impact for the organization. In spite of several disadvantages, the digital business presents a new set of scopes and opportunities. It is not only cultural transformation but also a technical one. 

To know more about digital transformation, please follow the link: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/7501-digital-transformation-the-ftse-way

In today`s business world, time is a precious resource, so there is increasing demand for a faster system of data analysis. An emerging open source analytics tool called spark is slowly gaining popularity and is being used for getting faster results obtained from big data analysis. Earlier many companies used and relied on Hadoop for processing and analyzing information, which used to take days to arrive at a meaningful inference. The spark analytics technology uses a completely different technique for storing data than Hadoop, with spark data is directly written in the memory rather than storing in disks, which increases the speed of data analysis remarkably.  There are also other interesting technological features for which spark is gaining attention.To know more read:  http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/06/03/spark-a-tool-at-big-datas-cutting-edge-helps-under-armour-perform-faster-analytics/?KEYWORDS=analytics

Facebook app has not only emerged as a news-reading function for many people these days but also various renowned publishers post articles on the social networks "News Feed" function. This has gained importance for a number of different news outlets, although most of them being negative. The modern era of digital publishing focuses on how self-publishing can evolve such that e-books are placed in front of their readers. In the next phase of digital publishing, the capability of a digital publisher to make a book more visible will be of crucial significance. In other words self-publishing plays a significant role in digital publishing.

Read more at: https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/the-future-of-digital-publishing