On Retooling for the Social Era

Video.   Everyone is including strong social elements in their systems,  but search is still a big element in getting to focused results.  Portals are still essential.  So I think the  demise of search is premature.

Robotics Challenge for Disaster Response

A very detailed  DARPA challenge for robotics in the area of disaster response.  In IEEE spectrum.   I have been surprised that more has not been done in this context.  It is an obvious application.   At the same time, disasters are by their nature chaotic, and the advanced pattern recognition needed to address chaotic environments is more difficult.

Computers and Society

See correspondent Lisa Kaczmarczyk's book:


Computers and Society: Computing for Good contains in-depth case studies with extensive, thought provoking end of chapter questions and is appropriate for a wide-variety of undergraduate and graduate majors in areas such as Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Information Science, Information Technology, Health Information Science, Business Management, and Political Science as well as many others majors. The complex nature of the case studies allows them to be used in a stand-alone social and professional issues course, a capstone issues course or as individual case studies that may be woven into a variety of computing or business courses ...

More about the book and ordering information.

Delivering Analytics

In E-Commerce Times:  Some useful thoughts about the process and the needs for expertise.   Its never all about the tools:
" ... Considering the large number of tools and wide range of skills necessary to be an effective digital analyst, managers are opting to hire "the best athlete" rather than looking for analysts that have deep skills in a narrow set of tools. The fast-learning, intellectually curious analyst who can understand the business will better serve the needs of the company than an analyst hired simply for specific tool knowledge.... "

Electronic Laboratory Notebook Management

Rescentris just brought to my attention.   We worked on Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) systems that could be signed and witnessed some time ago.  Most recently I was reintroduced to the broader issue of how knowledge management could be linked to recording systems.  Re-examining now:  " ... The system architecture of Rescentris’ CERF solutions was implemented to meet all of the requirements of an enterprise ELN and scientific content management solution to serve the needs of the life sciences and general research community for the near and long-term. CERF was designed to have a highly modular rather than monolithic architecture to enable ease of updates, adaptation, customization, and integration. The core semantic technologies infrastructure unifies the set of managed components that together make up the product and its market-driven features for managing research content and lab records..... "

Aimia Loyalty Analytics

I have been following the Aimia group for a while now. More news.  " ... Self Serve, a proprietary program through Sobeys' partnership with analytics firm Aimia, will help the company work more broadly and collaboratively with suppliers to harvest the full potential of customer insight data, Sobeys said.... " 

Shopper Marketing

New book: Shopper Marketing: How to Increase Purchase Decisions at the Point of Sale, by Markus Stahlberg.    On my list to read.   Contains a chapter by Herb Sorensen regarding his Atlas store category simulation system that we examined when it first came out.     " ... Shopper Marketing explores the subject of focused marketing initiatives aimed at browsers and shoppers who are in-store and can be influenced in their final buying decisions. Now with a new foreword by Philip Kotler this second edition features 12 brand new articles that reflect the current changes in the fast growing area, focusing specifically on the international scope, the online presence and the future of shopper marketing.   Written by 35 experts from top companies around the world including dunnhumbyUSA, Millward Brown, Tesco’s Fresh & Easy, MARS Advertising, Nestlé and author, CEO and president of Envirosell, Paco Underhilll, Shopper Marketing shows the most effective ways of converting shoppers into buyers at the point of purchase. ... " 

Visualizing Risk

A study in visualizing risk, from Forbes.   Very complex dashboards of data are shown.  This gets back to using the human visual system as a trend and outlier recognition engine.   While the eye cannot directly determine the complexity of a statistical inference, it can select among possible changes, especially in near real time, to determine where the deep dive should take place.  So why not connect the eye to the algorithm in new and fruitful ways?

P&G Razor Innovation

In the HBR Blog.  How consumer innovation for Gillette is moving to the far east.   Matches some other speculation I have heard about how other innovation work is moving to the centers of populations and thus new markets.

Struggling to Collaborate

Baseline Slideshow:  On the issues of inter-enterprise collaboration.  Somewhat useful, again, for a project I am working, but could use more depth than they claim.  There is an unfortunate tendency today to replace detailed content with images that do not have much to do with the topic at hand.   Attracting eyeballs with minimal value.  The technical, legal, intellectual property and resource aspects of these efforts are still considerable.

Managing a Portfolio of Innovations

From Forrester: We also worked on a closely related project.  how do you get the right information, especially about the technical risk involved, to the decision makers?  It is a collaboration issue where decision makers need to be linked to the knowledge involved, and the people that are doing the required research.  And and all of that process needs to be recorded for later re-use.    Involved in a project now that addresses this.  More to follow.

Retail Work Force Dropping

In the Atlantic: Why the future of retail doesn't need workers. Partially agree. It still needs workers, just a reapportionment of them. New skills. More innovation. Better engagement tools and skills.

Terry Jones on Breakthrough Innovation

A keynote presentation on regarding breaking through corporate organizational barriers to innovation.

Global Leadership Lessons from Unilever

Global leadership lessons from Unilever:

" ... Kruythoff was appointed president of Unilever's North American cluster in September 2011. Based in the United States, the job gives him responsibility for what he believes is his company's most important market and the challenges that come with it. "People like to talk about China or India or Brazil," said Kruythoff, a native of the Netherlands, the birthplace of Unilever's foods divisions. "But when you grow up in Europe, you always hear of the American Dream and what that represents.
"This is America, a place where we need to push the boundaries," he added. "The intellectual capital in this country is like no other. The Googles and the Amazons and the Apples, they are all here. So that is where I want to be for my company." ...  "

Recording Brain Waves at the Supermarket

Stephen Sands of Sands Research gives a talk at a recent conference: " ... Dr. Stephen Sands focused his presentation on recording brain waves at the super market and about what happens in the brain when people spot an item of interest, grab it, examine it and then place it in the shopping basket. Using 68 channel full spectrum EEG technologies, they quantify: Overall Engagement, Emotional Valence (left and right asymmetry, inferior frontal gyrus), Cognition, Attention, Visual, Motor, Memory, Recognition.... " 

Augmented Reality Daily

Just noted,  an aggregation of augmented reality news items.  A client just reminded me of this topic, so you will see more mentions of it.  How can it effectively be connected to more mundane business intelligence data sources?   Thoughts?

World Bank Opens Access

I acted as a judge for some World Bank investments, so this announcement is interesting.   A good direction for this kid of information.  Any structured or unstructured data involved could be useful for economic analysis

Neuromarketing Theory and Practice

A review of a new magazine on Neuromarketing Theory and Practice. Looks to be very interesting but pricey.  I see that a favorite consultant of mine in this space, Stephen Sands of  Sands Research,  has an article in it about " ... shopping behavior insights and data interpretation of neuroscientific research ... "  right up in our interest area.  

If anyone wants to send us a review copy of this article, or the whole magazine, we will review further.

The Pentagon and Augmented Reality

And as you might expect, the US DOD is very interested in the idea of hands-free augmented reality displays.  They have played in this space in a number of ways in the past, including early heads-up displays in aircraft.   In the enterprise we tested the idea for maintenance applications, but at the time they were not appropriate.  Now their time may have come.  Integrating them in contact lenses could remove some of associated issues we encountered:

"  ... DARPA orders prototypes of Innovega's iOptik displays that use special contact lenses so a person can focus both on images shown on the lenses and far-away objects for augmented reality.... " 

How Tech is Changing Retail

Short interview in AdWeek:   With Laura Davis-Taylor.  Nothing very new, but reminders of the broad challenge of adoption.   I like her ending quote:   " ...  Whenever you’re trying to create something new for the shopper experience the pain of learning has got to be better than the pain of not learning. ... " 

Business Value of Mobile for the Small and Medium Size Business

Good post with statistics for using with the Small and Medium Size Business. " .... What are SMBs top business challenges, and how well do mobile solutions help them meet these challenges? Interestingly, that depends on whether you’re asking them about the benefits of having their employees use internal mobile apps, or the value of offering mobile apps and mobile-friendly web sites for external customers, partners and suppliers to use.... " 

Facebook and Human Behavior

Interesting view of how Facebook is being used as a means of understanding why people do what they do.  Intriguing, but I wonder how well it works in an artificial environment.   But the richness in so much data can lead to new kinds of pattern discovery.

Pinterest Guide for Marketers

I have been exploring this for use as an image-oriented story-telling communications platform.  Here is a good introductory guide for marketers.

Visible Supply Chain

The topic of how to make a supply chain visible as possible has been examined many times.  As far back as the 70s we experimented with the topic using call-in reporting methods.   In the 90s we started to experiment with GPS.  As recently as the early 2000's we worked actively with RFID methods and simulated networks and alterting systems.   In the Supply Chain Digest:  A good overview article,  including a useful diagram that brings together many of the issues involved.   Now combine this all together with new analytic methods.   Well worth reading.

Marketing in a Gaming World

Gaming continues to be a hot topic.  It can get people's attention like a good ad can.   But I  have seen it better applied to applications where it is meant to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do.    Competition is a good example.  We applied it to solve difficult problems by engaging the creativity of multiple people.  A gaming - crowdsourcing approach.

Scan Now Ship Later

A new way to shop.  In particular, how will this change how images and displays are constructed and positioned?   Not new, but rapidly growing.

Wireless Expense Management: Bill Police

I have been asked to look at the wireless expense management company Bill Police.   So far this looks to be a good solution to the problem of increasing communications costs.  Continuing a look at enterprise applicability.  " ... We provide outsourced telecom expense management that simplifies billings and reporting while saving clients millions in wireless costs.....  We are able to work with organizations regardless of current wireless carrier relationships.  This means no downtime, no switching of carriers, and no new contracts or devices - simply let The Bill Police™ manage your wireless telecom expenses and watch as your mobile costs plummet.... Make an informed decision - determine whether or not wireless telecom expense management is the right solution for your organization.... Our free, no-obligation savings analysis is quick and informative. .... " 

Thwarting Showrooming

In the WSJ:   I have been asked to look at 'showrooming', where a shopper uses a retailer to touch and view items and then buys them online or elsewhere for lower cost.  A growing concern of physical retailers.    The complete article requires subscription.

New Online University

A startup seeks to deliver an elite online University.   Minerva Project.   " ... "The only way we're going to find out what works is to do it, rather than sit there opining," said David Wiley, an associate professor of instructional psychology and technology at Brigham Young University. "Bring it on."

Nelson wants to attract top students from around the world to his Minerva Project, a for-profit undergraduate college that will offer rigorous courses designed by academic superstars. But Minerva will also require students to teach themselves everything from Spanish to macroeconomics.... " 

ThinkVine Links with KBM Group

Press release.   A good example of analytic and knowledge management in key marketing applications:

"....  KBM Group, the global leader in knowledge-based marketing solutions, has entered a strategic partnership with ThinkVine, a marketing mix optimization software company. The agreement enhances KBM Group's customer engagement solutions and marketing mix optimization capabilities, extending its customer intelligence analysis in the areas of marketing mix modeling and actionable "what if" scenario planning across consumers, tactics and channels, including new, untried channels. The combined capabilities will enable KBM Group to help clients more relevantly engage with customers and improve marketing planning, sales and ROI in a time of evolving media.... "

Conceptual Modeling

Thoughts on the application and value of conceptual modeling for Big Data Applications.

P&G's Free Sustainability Analysis Tool

P&G is making a spreadsheet based sustainability tool freely available.  More here. " ... The Excel-based tool, launched last year, enables companies to measure and interpret key environmental sustainability metrics across their supply chains and identify progress as well as opportunities for improvement. It measures absolute or intensity improvements in nine key metrics including energy use, water use, waste disposal and greenhouse gas emissions on a year-to-year basis, P&G says.  P&G estimates that the scorecard has led to nearly $1 billion in bottom-line operational savings from reductions in energy, water, waste and CO2 at its facilities over the past ten years.... " 

Digital Opportunities for Retail

In Progressive Grocer:    An engagement study is previewed;

Print and online circulars are almost neck and neck in helpfulness, but recipes and apps are driving more consumers online to engage grocers, according to a new report soon to be released by Brick Meets Click (BMC) in partnership with Grocery Shopping Network (GSN).

The report, "Connecting with Modern Grocery Shoppers," will be released April 19, and involved an online survey of 23,000 shoppers who participate in GSN’s online network. Brick Meets Click developed and executed the survey, research and analysis. ... "

Data Mining Overview

In the Atlantic:   A good, very non-technical overview of data mining.  Lots of people are asking these days.   " ... Big data is everywhere we look these days. Businesses are falling all over themselves to hire 'data scientists,' privacy advocates are concerned about personal data and control, and technologists and entrepreneurs scramble to find new ways to collect, control and monetize data. We know that data is powerful and valuable. But how? ... " 

FlexTime and TeleWork Leading to Better Knowledge Management

I have been working in recent days with a company on  how collaboration can be improved.   Here an article on TeleWork.  Saving money, and also leading to better knowledge management.  More to follow.

Retailers Taking to Tablets

Phil Lempert on how, Supermarket blogger who often has interesting insights, on how retailers  are taking to tablets.   I have only seen a tablet used once in physical retail, but they can increase purchases from home.

Creative Machines Overtaking Man

What happens when creative machines overtake us?   Can machines be creative?  We examined this for the product development context. It  did not lead to anything substantial at the time, but I am convinced the possibilities were there.  Kurzweil Net examines. 

Ultra Precise Location, Indoors and Outdoors

Location capabilities are a long time interest of mine, based on work in retail innovation centers and with several startups with differing accuracy needs and goals.    In Technology Review: "... Broadcom has just rolled out a chip for smart phones that promises to indicate location ultra-precisely, possibly within a few centimeters, vertically and horizontally, indoors and out.... "

Data Modeling Mistakes

A slide show.  I post about this here because the slide show images have no relationship to the content. They add no insight.  Another example of the infographic influence trend where images are the driving force, as in social networks like Pinterest.  The words that come with the images are reasonable thoughts, but largely obvious examples.

Conversable Economist

Newly pointed to by M. Perry's Carpe Diem.:  The blog:  The Conversable Economist.  In particular a post about changes in prices of simple commodities over very long periods.  Discussed is the price of nails used in building.  The use of simple examples with supporting data is always useful.  Econometrics is always of interest here because it attempts to quantify behavior.  In recent years, though, I have become increasingly skeptical of econometric models that try to broadly predict.

Teacher Complaints Against iBooks

Common teacher complaints against iBooks.  And more generally against tablets.    Better content rather than more is emphasized.

Atlas Category Placement Tool

I have mentioned Herb Sorensen's Atlas Category placement simulation tool a number of times.  It has now moved to a  new  location.  More about it here, and more background information.

Atlas
The Category Placement ToolTM

Can I improve my profits if I move baby food from aisle 6 to aisle 15?
Atlas is the first system that allows retailers and brand managers to instantly calculate the revenue impact of moving categories anywhere in the store...." 

Know Where Your Data Comes From

In Adage:  It is absolutely fundamental to know where your data comes from and how it was manipulated in route.  I have seen this kind of mis-use many times.

Hurdles for Google Glasses

Good piece on what augmented reality experts are saying about Google Glasses. The idea continues to intrigue me and my clients because it could produce a major change in how people buy in context. You can do much of this today using augmented reality Apps on Smartphones, but it is still cumbersome and reveals what you are doing. A system that would make this kind of product and space engagement easier and less obvious, and would get many more people to engage. Our own studies revealed some of these issues with the shopper. Still, I believe this will become common, though it may be a few years to work out the problems.

E-Book on Strategic Planning

Stengthening Brand America offers an ebook on strategic planning.   It relates to an interesting regional topic, Ed Burghard writes:  " ... Occasionally, there are disruptive events that test the strength of any strategic plan and need to be addressed. It can be the loss of a major employer, the devastation of a natural disaster, or the unexpected emergence of a brand new industry.

I authored this eBook with the latter in mind. The emergence of the shale energy industry in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays is creating a disruptive impact on many rural communities in the nation’s Appalachian Region. A Region that has a history of suffering through boom-bust cycles related to the emergence of new industries (lumber, steel, and coal). My assessment is that in each case, the Region had an opportunity to leverage the new industry as a springboard to sustainable economic prosperity, but due to a lack of adequate strategic planning became a victim of circumstances... " 

Articles about Analytics and Data Science

From Data Science Central:   A good selection of articles about Analytics and Data Science from major publications.  Largely non-technical.

More Screens are Better

In Think With Google:  They state the obvious, but also that having your message clearly and efficiently delivered is important.   We already know from lots of research that the message also needs to be tailored to each of the kinds of screens used.  In multiple contexts.   See Keith Kelsen's book for more strategies about that.

Video based Detection Methods

Some good points about video detection and analysis.  This area continues to get more sophisticated and pervasive.  Expect it to get even more common:
" .... It's very likely that you've been on camera from the moment you left home today -- recorded as you rode in the elevator, walked on the street, bought coffee at the local deli, withdrew money, and as you've moved throughout your office building. While you're at work, cameras might be recording the events in your home, capturing the nanny's interaction with your children and when your cat drinks from her water bowl. Your image is part of the crowd scene in the camera advertisement on a billboard in Times Square, passersby are looking at you on the video display at an electronics store, the game system in your living room is analyzing your gestures, and your face is being analyzed as you go through security at the airport.... "

Optimizing Networks

Fraunhofer report on software that uses simulation to optimize networks.  Network technology is often used to understand and make networks more efficient.   A common application addresses supply chain systems, which we actively used in the enterprise.  Electrical grids, pipelines and even networks of people are also examples of systems that you might want to improve and optimize.

Looking at Store Behavior with Data Mining

A Spectrum IEEE Techwise Conversation with data-mining expert Eric Siegel.  Your favorite stores know you all too well.  President of Prediction Impact.  This company site contains a number of interesting papers on related topics.

Social Abacus Blog

I was just reminded of Kate Nieder's Social Abacus blog.  " ... a social psych PhD who has worked in social media analysis for about 7 years. In September 2008 helped start Dachis Group, the world's leading social business firm. In 2012, I'll start Knowable Research. ... " .   Great posts.  I am looking forward to Knowable Research.

Kiosk and Mobile Connection

A less common approach, a means to deliver coupons to shopper via kiosks smartphones via BlueTooth.   We experimented with coupons that printed on a  kiosk in store based on loyalty data.

Google Glasses

Much in the news: Google Glasses.  The not new, but apparently improved idea of putting displays into glasses that are location aware and connected.  As I mentioned before, an idea we worked with a number of times for internal applications, but also with an eye to how it might be used by consumers in the future.  This will produce another challenge to the makers of ads, how will ads be constructed to work best in this new channel?  What will it mean in physical spaces?   Issues of attention, safety?    I think this will ultimately succeed in some form. Get ready

Data Talking to Data

In the CACM: " ... Some companies on the cutting edge of technology are combining data streaming with advanced data-analytics methods that let them tie information they already possess to what is happening now.... " 

Visualization and Dynamic Analysis

Stephen Few writes a useful piece.   what do good interactions for visual analysis look like?:

Interactive Dynamics for Visual Analysis
Jeff Heer of Stanford University and Ben Shneiderman of the University of Maryland have co-authored a wonderful new paper titled “Interactive Dynamics for Visual Analysis.” With so much emphasis today on the visualizations themselves, Jeff and Ben are encouraging us to also attend to the interactions with those visualizations that are required for effective analysis. Data exploration and sensemaking (a.k.a., exploratory data analysis) requires constant and fluid movement from one view to the next, rapidly changing how we’re viewing the data to pursue each new question that arises. Interactions are required to alter the view, and it’s important that those interactions be quick and easy, otherwise our minds will be distracted from the flow of analysis.... " 

Analytic Bridge Buzz Site for Data Science

New:    Greenplum’s hub for the latest industry news, research, webcasts and use cases covering big data, analytics, and the data scientist community.    Looks to be a useful resource.

Supply Chain Executives Talk

You are invited to attend the next OBAIS seminar scheduled on Friday, April 6, 1:30 PM in Lin 111, by Prof. Vinod Singhal from Georgia Institute of Technology, on an empirical investigation of firm performance and appointments of Supply Chain Operations Management Executives.
________________________________________________
Title: Empirical Investigation on the Appointments of Supply Chain and Operations Management Executives
Speaker: Professor Vinod Singhal, Brady Family Professor of Operations Management, College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology
Date - Time - Location: Friday, April 6, 2012 – 1:30 PM – 111 Carl H. Lindner Hall, LCoB, University of Cincinnati
Abstract and Bio info is provided in the attached pdf flyer, and posted here.  Plus upcoming seminars.

Psychology of Social Engagement

In Fastcompany: This is a bit pop psychology oriented, but worth examination.     How much is our psychology changing as we communicate in radically new ways?

Printable Paper Robots

A simple idea.  An MIT project that aims to create such devices by 2017.    Directionally interesting, but does not seem to be very practical.  Though as the example suggests, disposable mobile sensors might be the ideal initial example ...  " ... Today, MIT announced a new project, "An Expedition in Computing Printable Programmable Machines," that aims to give everyone a chance to have his or her own robot.  Need help peering into that unreasonably hard-to-reach cabinet, or wiping down your grimy 15th-story windows? Walk on over to robo-Kinko’s to print, and within 24 hours you could have a fully programmed working origami bot doing your dirty work.  "No system exists today that will take, as specification, your functional needs and will produce a machine capable of fulfilling that need," MIT robotics engineer and project manager Daniela Rus said. ... "

Big Y Online Shopping Mall

The Big Y Marketplace debuts.    The idea has been tried a number of times in the past, not to particular success.  Being a single place aggregator for online experiences and linking loyalty rewards.  Will be useful to track.   " ... Big Y Foods Inc. has rolled out the Big Y Marketplace as part of its revamped website.The online shopping mall enables customers to earn discounts on groceries when they shop at other retailers online. The Big Y Marketplace positions the Springfield, Mass.-based company as the first supermarket of its kind to leverage online affiliate advertising programs to reward customers for their loyalty both to Big Y and their preferred online merchants.... " 

Coca Cola Research on Social Media Users

A report in Progressive Grocer on Coca Cola's analysis of social media users.   " ... A report from the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council divides social media users into the categories of bonders, sharers, professionals and creators. The report, "Untangling the Social Web: Insights for Users, Brands and Retailers," provides insight on each type of user. For example, bonders use social media to forge relationships and connections ... "

Visual Culture Taking Over

In Adage:  On the increase of image based culture.  Pinterest and the increase image tweets are just a few examples.  Easier to scan, yes.  A thousand words?  But also a dumbing down of interaction?

Chronicle of Philanthropy

A visualization of philanthropic stories.   A gallery of stories about why people should give using infographics

Books and Websites

Books should be as easy to produce as websites.   In O'Reilly Radar.   On publishing platforms.     " ... There are countless author and book production platforms to choose from these days. So why would you want to use a new one like PressBooks? In this TOC interview, I sat down with Hugh McGuire (@hughmcguire), co-author of "Book: A Futurist's Manifesto" and founder of PressBooks to help answer that question. I should point out that I'm a fan of the platform. In fact, that's one of the reasons we agreed to have Hugh create and produce "Book: A Futurist's Manifesto" on PressBooks.... " 

Data Visualization Landscape

Short thoughtful piece in Forbes on the landscape of data visualization.    Note the mention of storytelling.

On the Weight of Data

Jim Harris writes about the weight of data.    Thoughtful metaphor to use with management.  " ... weight is a gravitational force acting on data, and perhaps a way to represent subjective data quality.  Since most data can not escape the gravity of its application, most of what we refer to as data silos are actually application silos because data and applications become tightly coupled due to the strong gravitational force that an application exerts on its data. ... " 

So What is Best Price?

What is the right price?    It is always a tough question in retail.  Prices map to profits, and also strongly influence how consumers regard the retailer, both about a particular product and about the retailer in general.    Prices are increasingly transparent.    I was involved with a study recently which looked at how shoppers are increasingly using smartphone scans to compare prices on all sorts of products in-store.   The scans can easily be stored so they can use their laptop at home later to investigate alternatives.   Now people are no longer afraid to do a scan.    The world has changed.  When I asked them what they were doing when scanning in the store, they emphatically said things like:  'Making sure I am getting the right deal".

The scan also provides you with new kinds of information to structure how you intract with product choices.  The challenge is on. How do you assure you do have the right price to not scare off the shopper and still make a profit?  How does this relate to your long-term relationship with the shopper?   With promotional choices?   The increasing trasparency of prices to the consumer makes this crucial.

We talked to DemandTec as early as 2002 to better understand their methods.  I was impressed by their approach in category data and price management.    A unique quantitiative model that we had thought of,  but were unable to solve at the time.

They have come out with a paper regarding a customer success story for a direct delivery e-grocery, FreshDirect.   Also a concept we examined in some detail to understand one future view of grocery.  It is an ideal example of how to leverage cost, price and behavioral data that leads to new kinds of convenience for the online consumer that still needs physical goods.   By its interactive nature it can leverage new kinds of acquired data.

Check out their white paper for more details about how FreshDirect leverages their unique data to better serve their customers with the right price and product offerings, and build stronger loyalty to the convenience of FreshDirect.

FreshDirect is a pure play e-commerce retailer. As such, the data available to them provides a unique opportunity for competitive differentiation. "We know precisely every purchase for every customer, and a lot of surrounding behavioral data. We also have absolute compliance with all our pricing changes with absolutely no effort," ... 

 FreshDirect had a unique opportunity to leverage its data and allow it to compete more effectively. Thus, FreshDirect decided it needed a price optimization solution and DemandTec's Everyday Price Optimization software service on the DemandTec network fit the bill.

Data Blending in Tableau

An academic perspective about data blending.  Aimed at the non-expert in the use of data and modeling.

Psych of Casino Design in Retail

A while back we examined some of the work that had been done designing casino spaces for maximum efficiency and return.  We were attempting to see how these same ideas could be used more generally in simulating and designing more general retail spaces.   I wrote a review of simulation approaches in this space.  In Wired, some recent writing on the subject.

What If Modeling in Tableau

What-if modeling, essentially a simple form of simulation, is a powerful concept in business analytics.  I was reminded today that you can do this kind of parameter based analysis is Tableau Software.  See this article in their blog for more information. 

Special Skills Needed for Predictive Analytics

In Information Management:   I agree that specific skills are needed.  But even beyond what is said, the ability to understand and map the business processes involved.  It is not just the statistics and the math, it is the practical understanding of the complexity in the process.  Need help? Contact me to chat.

About Learning

Learning is a favorite topic of mine.  I supported a language laboratory study of sleep learning a long time ago and still follow this area.     Here in Wired "  ... an interview  with Robert Bjork, the director of the UCLA Learning and Forgetting Lab, a distinguished professor of psychology, and a massively renowned expert on packing things in your brain in a way that keeps them from leaking out. ,,, "

On the Dark Side of Teams

In Knowledge@Wharton:

Research Roundup: The 'Dark Side' of Teams; the Risks of Social Comparisons; and the Transfer of Entrepreneurial Skills

Does working in teams make people less receptive to outside input? How can social comparisons determine trust in working relationships? How do the training and technical knowledge of entrepreneurs take from previous employers impact the success of their new ventures? ... "

Melding the Real and Virtual Worlds

 Bringing together real and virtual worlds.?   No, I still can tell the difference.   " ...    Social science studies increasingly suggest that the divide between the virtual and real worlds is narrowing. Our experiences of reality may no longer constitute a duality. Nathan Jurgenson of Society Pages, a multi-blog social science forum hosted by the University of Minnesota, rejects the idea of dualism. “No longer can we think of a ‘real’ world opposed to being ‘online,’” he says.... " 

Procurement Freshly Examined

Bain looks at procurement in some detail.    A crucial issue in organizations:
" ... Rising commodity costs and volatility in input prices have become facts of life. Basic commodities are under pressure not only from their own higher demand but also from increasing alternate uses. Only a handful of commodities will likely result in real shortages and constraints, but no matter what business you’re in, rising prices and volatility will become the norm.

Executives are feeling the pain. In a recent Bain & Company executive survey, more than half of the respondents told us that cost pressures constrain their ability to make strategic investments (see Figure 1). That is a big issue for nearly all companies, given that procured costs represent between 25 percent and 60 percent of a company’s total costs, depending on the industry. We frequently find that procurement does not get a commensurate level of organizational investment ... "  

3D Imaging Patents at Apple

An interesting patent description from Apple on 3D imaging patents.   And some additional information on 3D imaging developments.  Useful for retail context applications and simulation modeling.

Cross Posting in Pinterest and GPlus

Starting immediately, select posts from this blog will be cross posted in Pinterest and G+ under my name as an experiment.  Follow them there as this idea and design changes evolve.    Select posts have been placed in Twitter for several years now.

Supply Chains Benefit From Information Sharing

This is obvious.  Collaboration is important at strategic and tactical levels.  But the details are worth repeating. " ... In a report by SCM World, 49.1% of buyers and 40.8% of sellers believe information-sharing benefits supply chain efficiency. "It is vital we have those windows to ensure transparency so we can effectively share information and data around sales and operations planning, supply demand and so forth," said Gerry Fay, chief global logistics and operations officer at Avnet, a maker of electrical components... " 

Process: Making Analytics Work for Every Company

When I worked with analytical methods in the big enterprise, it was often the case that work had already been done to map out the business processes involved.   In the mid 1980s we were already using methods like expert systems to improve these processes. Some of the research there came from academic work in artificial intelligence. At the time IBM was also starting to test the idea of 'expert systems' to model and improve internal processes. This often included the requirement to integrate systems like optimization, statistical modeling and correct and complete database designs and contents to make sure the decisions were represented correctly.

Frankly it would have been difficult for the small to medium size company to do the same thing at that time. In my consulting experience, I have discovered that their methods are not mapped as completely, and the methods needed  have historically been too difficult and expensive to use.

Since then I have followed methods like IBM's Watson Project, which uses many of the same expertise capturing capabilities.  And SPSS, which embodies statistical and logical data mining methods we used within the former Clementine package. These methods help determine where the key parts of the business process reside. So many of the methods that we had to cobble together are there today for ready use. It is still true that expertise is required to connect these ideas together. And specialized expertise and techniques need to be leveraged to scope an accurate model of the business process. This day is here.

The pieces are ready for any size enterprise. Be glad to discuss in additional detail.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines  of a smarter planet. More on that here: goo.gl/VQ40Cg 

Check Outs of the Past

LA Times Article:  On the state of the supermarket checkout and coming expected migration to smartphones.   With a pointer to technologies of times past that we experimented with in much detail:    " ... Ten years ago, shoppers envisioned a day when radio-frequency identification tags would enable them to whisk shopping carts through a checkout without unloading them — or bypass the checkout lane and ring up groceries as they walked through the store. But RFID never got cheap enough for razor-thin grocery margins. And we're still stacking groceries on conveyor belts, a 19th-century invention.... " 

Wikipedia and the University

Abstract of a case study:  it is still evolving, but the younger cadres of teachers and students see it as a viable tool.  Similar to the way any encyclopedia was used in the past, as an introductory, definitional tool for a topic.   Not for deeper research.

Jive Intranet Gamification

Team collaboration and Gamification.  An area we looked at a number of times without much success.  Corporate culture was never one to experiment with anything non traditional.  Always worth amother look for the sake of efficiency though.
 
" ... Jive Software launched two new products Wednesday that bolster its Jive Social Business Platform: Jive Social Intranet Solution and Jive Gamification. .... The Jive Social Intranet Solution is designed to address challenges people are having around internal collaboration, including existing intranets that never lived up to their promise, said Tim Zonca, director of product marketing at Jive. "The intranet, at least the promise of it, should have been able to solve some of these collaboration issues," he said. "Largely, the people we talk with say intranets have failed." ... "

Simplicity in IT

Twitter event today: @IBMSmtrCmptng Expert Integrated Systems Twitter chat TODAY at 4PM EST #expertsyschat http://goo.gl/vC95h I will comment later.

Post impressions and learning:  Lots of interesting ideas floated about simplifying IT, and some good link references, some of which I will use later.  I don't know how many people were participating, but it was a big group, which makes it hard to reflect carefully on many things said.  Still think that such events work better with a smaller invited group. Being a fast and accurate typist also helps.    I have saved the stream and take another scan later.

New SAS Visual Analytics for Big Data

In Information Management:   The in-memory  play continues: " SAS has unveiled a new in-memory analytics platform designed for scalability and very fast performance on standard blade architecture ... SAS Visual Analytics represents a lower entry point than the company's high performance analytic platform, with data exploration and visualization aimed at self-service business users.....  "

Top 50 Brands in Content Marketing

Some interesting statistics about mostly very well known companies that develop online content.  Includes measures like Twitter followers, Facebook fans, Unique site visitors, inbound links and content marketing index.  Further on their methodology: 

"... The Content Marketing Index, created by Kapost's research team, scores brands on a scale of zero to 400 - with 400 representing the most strategic and successful use of content marketing. This list began with a large group of brands that are practicing content marketing and was then distilled down to a group of 75 for more rigorous analysis. That analysis included both empirical and subjective evaluation, both of which were converted into relative numerical scores. Areas of analysis included website features, search efforts, content, and social attribution. Dimensions deemed to be of greater importance were weighted more significantly in calculating the overall Content Marketing Index score.... 

Judea Pearl Wins Turing Award

For contributions to artificial intelligence in the area of uncertainty and causal reasoning.  More details about his work here.  His excellent book:    ... Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, won the 2001 Lakatos Award from the London School of Economics and Political Science “for an outstanding significant contribution to the philosophy of science.” ...  '

Giving Credit

In the HBR Blogs:    We were always taught to give credit where it was due in the big enterprise.  It does not mean that it always happened.  A certain amount of diffusion of credit always occurred.   Of course if you do not focus the credit its hard to allocate the necessarily limited rewards like pay, level and applause,  We found that broad  transparency made the most sense.  Its an idea that can be outsourced within a enterprise.

Statistical Insights

Steve Miller in Information Management:  On our inability to link common sense and statically rigorous reasoning.   Very true, and it is even more difficult to explain this kind of reasoning to the decision makers that may  ultimately have to rely on it.    I spent many hours in my career using simple examples to drive these ideas through.    Miller provides some excellent simple examples of our quickness to look for causal explanations.   See also his recent post on Duncan Watts' book:  "Everything is Obvious ...", also well worth the read.  Quoting and expanding on:   " ...  common sense is "exquisitely adapted to handling the kind of complexity that arises in everyday situations … But 'situations' involving corporations, cultures, markets, nation-states, and global institutions exhibit a very different kind of complexity from everyday situations. And under these circumstances, common sense turns out to suffer from a number of errors that systematically mislead us ...  " .  Does this ultimately mean we need a deeper caution for applications of 'Business Intelligence'?

Tablets Enhance Buying

In a survey by Aislebuyer.  "  ... 57% of shoppers said retailers that use mobile devices instead of cash registers are more appealing, even though only 22% have shopped at such stores. "We're seeing increased interest from retailers in supplementing and potentially replacing traditional registers with a tablet-based mobile point-of-sale or store-associate solution," said founder and CEO Andrew Paradise.... " .    See the Aislebuyer site which has some good additional white papers, video and background.

Wikipedia Page 1 Rank

For some time now it has been common to see Wikipedia results to come up on page 1 of a Google search. Search Engine Watch looks at a number of studies that have looked at this behavior, based upon the kind of searches used.

George Dyson on Advertising

In the Edge:  George Dyson on self-replicating codes, the universe .... and strangely,  on advertising.  Or more generally as I see it 'selling' ...

" ... What's the driver today? You want one word? It's advertising. And, you may think advertising is very trivial, and of no real importance, but I think it's the driver. If you look at what most of these codes are doing, they're trying to get the audience, trying to deliver the audience. The money is flowing as advertising.... And it is interesting that Samuel Butler imagined all this in 1863, and then in his book Erewhon. And then 1901, before he died, he wrote a draft for "Erewhon Revisited." In there, he called out advertising, saying that advertising would be the driving force of these machines evolving and taking over the world. Even then at the close of 19th century England, he saw advertising as the way we would grant power to the machines.... " 

Probabilistic Topic Models

In the CACM:   Somewhat Technical, but some valuable insights:  " ...   Surveying a suite of algorithms that offer a solution to managing large document archives .....  As our collective knowledge continues to be digitized and stored—in the form of news, blogs, Web pages, scientific articles, books, images, sound, video, and social networks—it becomes more difficult to find and discover what we are looking for. We need new computational tools to help organize, search, and understand these vast amounts of information.... "

Getting Ready for Big Data

Good general piece in CIO about getting ready for Big Data.  Companies will increasingly need to leverage the data within their own domains and lead rather than follow to make sure it is the right data as well.

The Big Idea of Associative Intelligence

What is the big idea of Associative intelligence?  In a back of the envelope exploration, Saffron Tech presents the idea.  It is an important one.  How do we save and retrieve the kind of fuzzy intelligence we use so successfully every day? Your data represents your experience.  Big data equals big experience, so why not use it?

Making Navigation Systems Unusable

In CNet Reviews:  An example of how to let regulations contort perfectly good technology to make their use as unusable and complicated as possible.  Keep it simple, please.

Shoppologist

Just discovered.   The Shoppologist.   Retro looking view at things shopping with some discovered gems.

Smartphone vs Dumbphone and a Lesson in a Bagel Shop

Colleague Walter Riker  looks at the Smart phone-dumb phone conundrum.   I thought this was all solved already, but maybe not. Can everyone master the smart phone?  Just the other day I had a waitress at a bagel shop ask me if I knew how to turn off all the background Apps on my iPhone.  She insisted upon taking my phone from me and showing me how.  And she was very proud of the demonstration.

VisionIQ Tagging Images

On VisionIQ:   This was brought to mind because in a previous world I dealt with the methodology of reliably tagging arbitrary images,  difficult without human assistance.   " ...   Image recognition platform ...  IQ Engines provides image recognition software that can identify the content in virtually any photo. We provide this software to developers and provide a simple way to integrate image recognition capabilities into mobile applications. Our customers include retailers, media companies and mobile app developers who are using IQ Engines to power visual search, shopping, content discovery and other apps. ...  "

Learning Bursts

A look at the concept of 'learning bursts'. short time duration, repeated learning sessions.  " ... A learning burst is a combination of an eight- to 10-minute audio cast similar to a talk show, which can be played on any compatible player or device. It also includes a document, or “workbook,” of supporting material, with three to five pages per chapter or topic of simulations and case studies to augment the learning burst, as well as a short quiz and a prompting exercise to get participants to think about how they would apply what they have learned. Each burst is a self-contained discussion of a particular topic or subject.... " 

Preventive Health via Social Gaming

Kind of an obvious thing at one level.  But how do you make it work well?  Health is a personal thing, so are people willing to share specific information to empower the gaming dynamic?