The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the purpose as “the reason why something is done or used: the aim or intention of something.” Although the reasons for a mobile BI project may appear obvious on the surface, a re-evaluation of the initial assumptions can often prove to be invaluable both for the design and longevity of mobile projects.
Here are a few points to keep in mind before you schedule your first meeting or lay down a single line of code.
Public agencies, NGOs and non-profit IT organizations are exploring ways to use technology for something other than getting consumers to buy more stuff.
Big data and innovative uses of mobile technology are hot items in the international public sector, according to a story in today’s FT.
The UN’s Global Pulse is using a network of innovation labs to see how data tracking human behavior might improve responses to poverty, disease and humanitarian crises. Sarah Murray who wrote the article, said a trawl of online job sites at the UN and other agencies brings up a lot of openings for information officers, data warehouse experts and data analysts.
Big data is, of course, one of the business world’s most in vogue buzz words. It may even be having an impact on how various industries function. Case in point, today’s Wall Street Journal reports that several firms are selling data and services to fashion brands and retailers (Fashion Industry Meets Big Data, Sep 9).
Faced with the ongoing confusion over the term ‘Big Data,’ here’s a handy – and somewhat cynical – guide to some of the key definitions that you might see out there.
The first thing to note is that – despite what Wikipedia says – everybody in the industry generally agrees that Big Data isn’t just about having more data (since that’s just inevitable, and boring).
We can now gather, correlate, and analyze information in ways that were unthinkable in the past. The book “The Human Face of Big Data” does a particularly good job of rounding up some of the most interesting stories of how these technologies will touch our lives.
However, with great power comes great responsibility. Analytics is a very powerful weapon, and weapons can be abused.
The past clearly shows that without proper controls, there can be irresistible temptations for companies and governments to combine data in ways that threaten personal liberties. Misuse of every previous data gathering technology has eventually come to light, sometimes only decades after the facts, leading to new laws re-establishing privacy limits.
If you have not witnessed the deluge of big data and business analytics media coverage to date, then welcome back from the coma you were apparently in for the last couple of years. For the rest of you, perhaps you have the same nagging question that I have: Are big data and business analytics such a big deal that if our organization is late to the party in deploying them, we will never catch up to our competitors?
{According to Rick Smolen, a former Time Life journalist and photographer] one of the biggest opportunities is making better use of previously ignored “dark data”. “For years, meteorologists have had to filter out ‘bioclutter’ from Doppler radar weather systems – the “noise” generated by flocks of birds or bats. But when bird researchers realized they had 15 years of invaluable data on migration patterns they were delighted!”
The question, by the way, was: “Where do you most commonly sort your mail”. And the reason is that the kitchen is where the trash can is. Let’s quickly walk through the process of sorting through our daily mail, or my personal process anyhow. First, you set aside the packages – usually good stuff in…
There are many presentations and discussions about how analytics and “Big Data” can improve decision making—a simple Google search on the terms returns close to 8 million results. Organizations find their workforce analytics especially challenging as human resources (HR) departments attempt to grow beyond creating reports for the sake of reporting. When you think about…
