Chat Apps with Sentiment

Nice example, technical.  Most interesting is the introduction of sentiment.   We did this for 'Mr Clean', before there were easily integrated sentiment analysis.   Recently have been reexamining sentiment considerations in chat dialog.

Build A Chat App With Sentiment Analysis Using Next.js  in Pusher
Build a realtime chat application with Pusher

This tutorial was written by Chris Nwamba and originally appeared on the Pusher Blog.

Realtime applications have been around for quite a long time as we can see in contexts such as multi-player games, realtime collaboration services, instant messaging services, realtime data analytics tools, to mention a few. As a result, several technologies have been developed over the years to tackle and simplify some of the most challenging aspects of building apps that are sensitive to changes in realtime.

In this tutorial, we’ll build a very simple realtime chat application with sentiments. With sentiment analysis, we will be able to detect the mood of a person based on the words they use in their chat messages.  .... "

Retail Analytics in Realtime

More operational links to real time analytics are emerging.

Reacting Faster in Retail with Real-Time Big Data
By Raluca Neagu - in Customerthink

Consider the following scenario: You are a supermarket store manager. Popcorn, pretzels, and the like seem to be suddenly disappearing from your shelfs, but you have no idea why. You know you need to leverage this popcorn crisis somehow. You can order more, and have it shipped quickly, but how much stock should you get for popcorn? Why is this happening now? Will it last? To understand the cause of such episodes, one needs to be able to quickly compare the current situation with the same day last year, last months, last weeks and consider events around the shop. Consider festivals, movies, political events and weather. Maybe a new Game of Thrones episode was released.

When top line is no longer the most important growth factor, the bottom line becomes crucial. A relatively untapped source of growth is the time dimension. Data loses part of its value when decisions are not made in the right time window. And these time windows can be very small. Reacting faster, better, offering faster services or well stocked stores all add up.

Optimizing checkout wait times
Kroger uses real-time predictive analytics to estimate when shoppers are likely to reach the checkout lanes. This helps them optimize the number of opened lanes to keep wait times low. Since the technology was implemented, average wait time dropped from 4 minutes to 26 seconds. .... " 

Proximus Retail Analysis

Brought to my attention:  Proximus.

Acquire. Analyse. Improve.

Real-time insights
Our unique technology tracks every single customer in-store to an accuracy of 1.5m every second without cameras nor smartphones. 

Optimal product placement
Directly measure the impact of any campaign in your store: number of views and time customers spend in front of each product. 

Efficient staff management
Let us suggest strategic changes in your store: our BigData technology analyses the results in nearby stores to optimize yours. .... " 

Kaizen Meets Hitachi AI for Workflow Productivity

Via Conor Cusack:  Quite an interesting application direction:

Hitachi puts AI Boss in Charge to Boost Productivity By David Nield
Forget about robots taking over your job — they might be more likely to take over the role of your boss and get you working smarter. Hitachi has been experimenting with software systems that can issue workflows and assign employee duties, and so far there’s been an 8 percent increase in warehouse efficiency and productivity.

According to Hitachi, the new programs are designed to assess fluctuations in demand and productivity levels based on a large database of previous corporate activity. The main benefits over previous automated systems are the way in which the new AI is able to adapt in real time to changes in workflow and unexpected activities — variations that would typically require new code to be added. .... " 

I wrote:  Impressive.  Hitachi talked to us back then. Note mention of Kaizen continuous improvement. Good starting point for cognitive.   I have lots of questions, am looking for more in depth write ups.    Looks like a classic workflow optimization, the kind that was done with flow process models in the past.  Now in real time? Adaptive interactions to changing data?   Dealing with modeling related changeover processes?   Actually managing workers directly?   Which cognitive methods?  While virtual assistants are very interesting,  an AI application of the style of the Hitachi case would be more readily sold to an enterprise, since it can be directly compared to current business process practice.   Impressions?  .....   Continuing Linkedin discussion.

Real Time Computing

Interesting piece on real time computing and in particular how it relates to the Internet of Things. Real time interaction with data means more than just the need for faster computers and real time data, it also means knowing what to to with the results we get. That works in simple closed loop situations, like the iconic thermostat example, but not in other areas, where we have not modeled the underlying business process.  Conversations about enterprise architecture this week have made me think of the implications.

Real Time Data and in Store Experience

by Ritika Puri in Big Data Hub:

" ... Today's shoppers are more connected than ever. Mobile technology blurred the lines between digital and offline experiences, with 86 percent of consumers using multiple channels to shop and 40 percent of smartphone users using their devices to search for items in stores. This ecosystem has created new opportunities for CPG leaders to build direct relationships with their consumers through real-time data.   ... " 

Tibco and Teradata and Real Time Event streams

TIBCO and Teradata Enable CIOs to Extract Actionable Insights From Real-Time Event Streams to Deliver the Two-Second Advantage

Event Processing within the Teradata(R) Unified Data Architecture(TM) enables analytics for any user - to discover insights and put into real-time action.
  ...  announced TIBCO Spotfire® event analytics as a key component of the Teradata Unified Data Architecture™ (UDA). This inclusion of TIBCO real-time event processing and analytics will enable some of the world's largest enterprises to capture the full value of big data by simultaneously analyzing historical data (data at rest) and real-time events (data in motion). The Unified Data Architecture combines powerful technologies to provide closed-loop processing of big data by facilitating the collection, analysis, and modeling of real-time event streams. The insights extracted from the architecture enables business leaders to anticipate future events and take immediate automated action, providing them with the two-second advantage®. ... 

The value of the Teradata UDA to customers is the ability to leverage the tight integration of Teradata data warehousing, Teradata Aster discovery platforms, and Apache™ Hadoop. This workload-specific architecture enables business users to gain competitive advantage through deeper insights from any data source. Now, combined with the Spotfire analytics platform, data scientists and business analysts can harness the best-in-class analytic capabilities of the Teradata and Teradata Aster engines and convert their discoveries into a guided operational application for line-of-business decision-makers. ... " 

Real Time Shopper Feedback

In Progressive Grocer:  How BJ's is using a real-time shopper feedback system.  " ... BJ's Wholesale Club is using a survey platform from On The Spot Systems that provides real-time feedback from members who use mobile devices to take surveys about private-label products. "Survey On The Spot's real-time, actionable feedback model will allow BJ's to know what its customers are thinking at that most critical moment, while they are actively consuming the products -- allowing the company to make immediate decisions to build stronger relationships with its members," said Ken Kimmel, president of On The Spot ... "

Real Time Site Analytics

Google Analytics is adding real time tracking to its dashboards.  This will be phased in over the coming days.