AT&T vs Verizon Visualization

It particularly attracted me because it dealt with maps and visualization of data. You have seen the ads if you watch any TV or use the Internet. Dueling mobile coverage maps. E-Commerce Times provides some of the data behind the claims. Sometimes visualizations are not enough.

Customer Experience with AI at Verizon

Good example of the use of delivering customer experience. 

Tapping AI: The Future of Customer Experience at Verizon Fios
Podcast and transcript:

Verizon Fios's Justin Reilly discusses the future of AI in enhancing the customer experience.
  
Justin Reilly, head of customer experience innovation for Verizon Fios, is projecting that 80% of value creation in artificial intelligence (AI) will be in business-to-business [B2B] applications, and the rest in consumer services. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton during the Mack Institute for Innovation Management’s fall conference on Emerging Innovation Leadership Challenges for Global Firms, he also noted that Generation Z is increasingly becoming protective of personal data and may start withholding it from companies unless offered compensation, while millennials will continue to favor companies that make positive social contributions. Reilly, who was a conference speaker, also suggested that in a world of vast automation via AI, companies that learn how to preserve a human touch should have a competitive advantage. .... "

Unilever CMO Leads Effort on Future of Marketing Analytics

In Adage:    Good direction.  The future of marketing and analytics is a rich one.

Unilever CMO Leads Effort to Map Future of Marketing Research and Analytics ... Insights2020 Panel Includes Weed, Sorrell, Execs From Verizon, Volkswagen and Google

Unilever Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Keith Weed is leading a new industry initiative to study market research, insights and analytics, including how the work should be organized at major marketers and what the industry's needs for talent and investment will be in the future. ... " 

Smart Securing of IOT Device Data

In the CACM:     Work is going ahead on security concerns for the Internet of Things.  This sounds simple, but I wonder that it won't be easy to unravel.

" ... The main problem involves finding a way to share necessary information with organizations that collect data, providing the requisite information to interact with consumers while maintaining security and privacy. Zitterbart has developed a methodology in which usage data is anonymized by combining total usage with that of several nearby users, adding a random number, and then dividing that total by the number of users.

The method ensures that no single number being reported is the same as their actual usage, and because of the random number, their actual number cannot be easily determined. The method gives organizations "exactly the information they need but not more," Zitterbart says. ... " 

Also work by Verizon on managing IoT security.

Verizon and Big Data Analytics

At the recent Big Data and Analytics Summit I attended a talk and had a chat with Ashok Srivastava of Verizon, who leads a new research and development center in Palo Alto that sets the strategic direction for big data and analytics for Verizon and ensures that it is utilized to drive revenue and new business opportunities as well as optimize business operations.  A White paper from Verizon on putting analytics to work. In particular I would think that enterprises like Verizon would in have excellent, robust and large sources of experiments for streams of data and the supporting networks.   More specifically about their approaches underway.  A good effort to continue to follow on their excellent site.

NFC Payment System Test

Engadget outlines the test of an NFC phone payment system in Salt Lake in 2012.  Another step towards phone-as-wallet.  The big rollers are now involved. " ...  Isis, a collaborative venture between AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and a bunch of banking big timers, has today announced the first market for its rollout of a contactless payment scheme ... "

Kitchen Computer 1969

I recently posted about a 'home system' being advertised by Verizon. Part of our innovation center research was to understand how specialized systems in a home could help the consumer. Based on consumer interviews the kitchen was considered the center of that experience.

UK correspondent Richard James reminds me that about the same time that I was being introduced to any kind of digital computing, Honeywell was featuring its 'kitchen computer' in the 1969 Neiman Marcus catalog. Intriguing, though the article says there is no evidence that any were ever sold. Perhaps because: ' ... It sold for $10,000, weighs over 100 pounds, and is used for storing recipes (but reading or entering these recipes would have been very difficult for the average cook as the only "user interface" was the binary front panel lights and switches) ... '

Verizon Hub

A wireless VOIP Hub phone.

Have now seen a number of ads for the Verizon Hub phone. It has now been around for a while. A phone that provides central family functionality for the home. This is something we tested in the late 90s using a small for the time, dedicated laptop. A number of companies also tried to provide this capability with specialized devices that hung on the the frig or under a cabinet. Of course today most smartphones provide the same capabilities. Does it makes sense to have a separate device to do this with so many smart mobiles that can do the same?

Coke Machine Gets Networked and Analytical

This article includes some technical details about how Coke is using RFID and real time networked analytics in its new dispensing machine. The system will allow late stage product testing and differentiation. The kind of network intelligence always suggested, but rarely seen in retail at this level of sophistication. The business intelligence possibilities are endless. (Via Wim Van deVelde)

' ... Coke plans to roll out the Freestyle drink dispenser nationwide, eventually putting tens of thousands of them in places such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Willy's Mexican Grill. And while the machine is taking the concept of customer choice to new heights, the most interesting aspect is the technology it's built on. Freestyle will become Coke's front-line robotic army for business intelligence, sending massive amounts of consumption data back to the beverage company's Atlanta headquarters.

Freestyle will let Coke more easily test new drink flavors and new beverage concepts, such as adding various vitamin combinations to flavored waters and juices. The dispensers each contain 30 cartridges of flavorings that mix up 100 different drink combinations. The cartridges are tagged with radio frequency ID chips, and each dispenser contains an RFID reader. The dispensers collect data on what customers are drinking and how much, and transmit that information each night over a private Verizon (NYSE: VZ) wireless network to Coke's SAP data warehouse system in Atlanta ... ' (In InformationWeek)

Origin of Data Breaches

A commonly held belief is that most security incidents are inside jobs, but Evan Schuman writes:

" .. A Verizon Business security report analyzed more than 500 data breach incidents over four years and found that 73 percent started from the outside and only 18 percent were inside jobs ... ".

ScanLife and Other Camera Scanning

Earlier this year we took at look at ScanLife, a down loadable program for camera phones that lets them be used as scanners. Unfortunately it does not allow the camera to scan the common 1D product bar codes, or even regular 2D bar codes, but only a proprietary 2D code called an EZcode. You aim your camera at the code and it interprets it, beeps, then takes some action, say sending an e-mail, or bringing up a web page. Worked well during the test. Unlike other attempts at this ScanLife has thought it through commercially. Applications like free samples, price comparisons and extended information are obvious. At the right is an (incompatible) 2D QR Code.

It won't work with all providers or cellphones, visit the site above to see which. We tested with Verizon and HP. I was reminded of the test by some rumors that it was now available on the IPhone. Don't believe everything you read, because it's not available yet.

Some have cynically compared the idea to the much ridiculed Cuecat, which we also tested. It depends much on the critical mass of enough codes being out there to entice the phone user to download the software, or ultimately to have it automatically loaded on phones.

There is much value to having a scanner capability on a cellphone. Though it should have the ability of interpreting multiple kinds of codes, 1D, 2D and others and preferably those that meet open standards. It may be the only way to achieve a critical mass common enough to get the attention of the consumer.

There is more activity now in this area, see the iMatrix platform and Neoreader.