Highlights from SD Forum's 'Analytics the Next Wave'

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By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
I've always been impressed with SD Forum's events, and they recently held an Analytics: The Next Wave conference last week which focused on addressing the following questions and goals: 

- How do businesses transform the wow of analytics and big data into the bottom line? 

- The focus has shifted from using analytics for better data access and reporting to using insights collected from analytics to deliver better outcomes to the bottom line and drive high performance. 

- This conference will explore increasing the bottom line through new sources of data and uses, new deployment and data architecture models, and consumer targeting derived from big data intelligence.

Here are some of the highlights I thought I'd share from the event. I hope this helps you in your Analytics Design and Planning.

1. New Sources of Data and Usage Panel with Zia Yusuf, Streetline, Ralph Clark, ShotSpotter,  Ilen Zazueta-Hall, Enphase Energy, and Moderator: John Fraser, Accenture

a. Ralph Clark explained that Shotspotter provides data and insight to government officials to help them make decisions, including identifying gunshot locations. He states the 1st most important Use Case is to identify the exact source of a gunshot so the dispatcher can dispatch resources more effectively, instead of a caller to 911 not knowing exactly where the gunshot originated, and Officers then driving around 3 to 4 blocks to find the source of the gunshot. The 2nd Use Case is to use Heat Maps to determine most of the occurrences so action can be taken.
b. Zia Yusef of Streetline places sensors in parking meters, and iPhone and iPad apps help folks find parking spots. He says 30 percent of traffic is caused by people trying to find a parking spot, and he says his company is partnering with IBM.
c. Ilen Zazueta Hall of Enphase Energy is a solar energy company making micro-inverters that allow for troubleshooting and data visualization and brings the power of analytics to physical data. She gave a color map example which displays solar panel wattage production; the solar homeowner sees dark spot on the display and finds a frisbee on the panel.
d. John Fraser of Accenture states the goal of 'looking through a car's front window instead of rear view mirror' and using a systems and data centered approach.

2. Analytics - Fireside Chat with Tom Peck, Levi Strauss & Co and Sanjay Poonen, SAP.

a. Tom Peck from Levi Strauss started out by joking "we pay people to put holes in jeans...years
ago people used to throw them away".  Joking aside, Tom mentioned there is a Partnership with IT and Business and look at early warning indicators to change practices. They have embedded Social Commerce into their Facebook application. Tom used the expression that it's really a Science and Art and use Regression Testing. He does Customer Research Walks with customers.  Since Consumer sentiment changes in 12 to 16 months, they consistently use Voice of the Customer practices and Segment and Tier their customers. India, China, and Mexico are their biggest emerging markets. "Analytics is about how to influence investments."

b. Sanjay Poonen from SAP showed a balanced scorecard and mentioned: customers come first and they
invest in people: "when you invest in customers and people you have a good business" and used the slogan "we make customers successful."  He mentioned Retail and Banking are exploding and gave an example that Amazon creates loyalty by predicting the next product people will like in addition to "Don't look in rear view mirror; look through front windshield."

3. New Deployment and Architecture Models Panel withScott Burke, Yahoo, Anant Jhingran, IBM, Oliver Ratzesberger, eBay, and Moderator: Eileen Boerger, Agilis Solutions

a. Scott Burke says Yahoo uses data to drive consumer experience and advertising. Everyone gets a different home page and looks at how many times someone clicks on an item. Yahoo uses the data to target relevant display ads that drive revenue for advertisers and publishers. Regarding what has worked and what has changed, the early solutions were home-grown and file based. Yahoo always had an ethos of home-grown and then pioneered Hadoop: a grid based solution, where they have tons of petabytes on Hadoop. Yahoo is an Oracle shop, a large OLAP cube, and Hive and Yahoo created web apps. The trend is data management and providing value to all the players. Bidirectional feeds. Hadoop is not used for realtime.  We built real time loops ourselves..lots of optimization. .runs on serving layer don't have time to go into data center or batching.

b. Anant Jhingran from IBM says Analytics will be one of the top 3 growth areas (cloud and smarter
planet are the other two both of which use analytics). Software and hardware optimization is a big deal = Systems Optimization.
c. Oliver Ratzesberger mentioned they discuss hundreds of use cases and "try out things on you to maximize learnings"; AB testing and multivariate testing are used and they serve 150 billion search impressions. It starts with data centers and IT operations that look at user behavioral data, and he called it: "Analytics as a Service."
Oliver says that eBay has traditionally looked for partners. They use Hadoop and bring learning from the large data warehouse, and keep amount of data replication to a minimum. They're using Tableau as rapid visualization tool. "It's unstructured but it's really structured; need ability to combine structured and unstructured, and get data updated every 10 minutes. From an Analytics as a Service perspective, initially every group wanted their own data build, but it was too much work and they wanted to reduce replication. Data Mart users were saying new data didn't match old data and consistency was an issue. Physical data marts were too complex and we have to discourage them. How do we offer a Virtual Data Mart? The Business self-provisions own Data Mart and it's up in a few minutes.  When the Data Marts access Customer Table, everyone uses the same data and latency goes away. 'Virtualized Analytics as a Service'. Ebay Built realtime in process memory systems so within a few seconds we know if something is fradulent.
Q. Is there an Issue with many people accessing the same table.
A. Good question..how are we going to make that happen..on our main system hundreds of people using 92 percent busy. In order to do that you need superb workload management.  Systems run millions of requests every
day. Our systems are built to take the most ridiculous request that could crash the system; there are many first time requests. The Request goes into a rules engine and very tight workload management.  The System knows if the CFO needs data, more resources are given. Marketing gets a certain percent. Through workload management we maximize efficiency. Hadoop has massive benefits on data processing but doesn't handle workload management very well. The Goal is to design for the unknown..don't prevent future use cases..make it as flexible as possible.

4. Fireside Chat with Simon Khalaf, Flurry and Sharon Wienbar, Scale Venture Partners

- Flurry is many times the size of twitter.
- Amazon has people who bought this bought that. How do I segment my audience and how do I provide a better experience. Experience is different on phone and ipad. People take time on the iPad..people on the phone are interrupted.
- It's not about the download, it's the engagement.
- Retargeting is the most high growth thing on the web, i.e. abt electronics..1st party cookie given from my website..now gets ads from ABT electronics wherever she goes on the web.
rightmedia and doubleclick exchange can find her.
- Flurry allows publishers to define a segment and that's what we want back.
- Facebook is showing friends a person hasn't interacted with me for a while.
- How do brand advertisers ensure they get ROI.
- Nike launches campaign and they look at analytics, measure engagement by doing it automatically without violating privacy.
- Movie and Automotive ..Toyota going into gaming experiences by putting in engaging racing videos. Wait before ad shows.
- Flurry is free with analytics view. Need to put code in mobile app. Doesn't impact performance.

5. Analytics. The Investor Perspective Panel withAsheem Chandna, Greylock Partners, Vispi Daver, Sierra Ventures, Lars Leckie, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Ping Li, Accel Partners and Moderator: Harold Yu, Orrick

a. Ping from Accel...Trend to Real Time Predictive Analytics. Cloudera is used for large scale data management. Analytics is now part of the development process. Analytics is now part of the marketing team.
b. Lars from Hummer Winblad ... Reduced cost of storage is enabling the big data revolution. Invested in mobile..analytics is built into the business. Hope Cloudera and Karma become big companies.
c. Vispi from Sierra...  Analytics is part of Intellectual Property i.e. Zynga is looking for what moves make the most money. Analytics is a Revenue Generating Product.

Video: Guy Kawasaki Keynote 'The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions' (March 30, 2011 OnDemand Palo Alto, CA)

Guy Kawasaki & Origami Swallowtail (Photo: Mary Vincent)

By Mary Vincent - Twitter @MaryVincent
Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures, gave a great OnDemand Conference Keynote based on his 10th book: Enchantment The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions where he explains how to influence what people will do while maintaining the highest standards of ethics.
His great advice applies to anything in life and work, and the video is below.


If you're an Entrepreneur or are thinking about it, check out this video: Guy Kawasaki's 10 Tips for Entrepreneurs at Swagapalooza San Francisco March 23, 2010

Chop a SIM and fit in an iPad

The new iPad2 (or any old iPad or iPhone) requires what's known as a micro SIM or uSIM. These have the same electrical connections as a normal SIM but are slightly smaller.

There's a problem in ordering uSIMs as the mobile network operators (MNOs) know that it's going to be stuck into an Apple device and therefore they'll want to stick you on a nice long (and expensive) iPhone or iPad contract. It is possible to get a normal SIM on a much more suitable (i.e. cheaper) contract, but the SIM wont fit in the iPad.

When the uSIM first appeared there were lots of "hacks" around which showed how to get a knife and physically cut the SIM into uSIM form (including the now famous John Benson "Meat cleaver" blog) and then a plethora of cutting devices appeared which allows a SIM to be inserted, pressure applied and out pops a uSIM.

This seemed a bit drastic, but there's several companies who offer free SIMs and once snuggly inserted in the SIM cutter, chop and a uSIM pops out. When placed in the iPad it nicely seemed to work too.

Ofcom announces plans for 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum auctions

Ofcom the communications regulator has announced how it intends to auction the 800MHz band (which is currently used to deliver analogue TV signals) and the 2.6GHz band (which was reserved for future 3G use). The amount of spectrum available for auction is 250MHz which is equivalent to 3/4 of all the mobile spectrum available today and 80% more than the spectrum awarded to the 3G licensees.

Though the spectrum will be made available in a technology neutral manner (i.e. the winner of the spectrum can use it for whatever they want - as long as they meet the technical criteria and don't do anything silly), it's expected that it will be used for 4G services such as LTE or WiMAX and deliver mobile broadband services.

800MHz is considered prime spectrum as it has very good propagation characteristics i.e. it can travel long distance and penetrates buildings well (so anyone who can receive analogue TV services could get broadband), Alcatel-Lucent are already trialling LTE-800 (i.e. LTE services on 800MHz) in Wales as reported in a previous article.

2.6GHz can carry more data (and there's more spectrum available) but it's better for localised high bandwidth services as it doesn't carry as far (it's worse then the existing 3G coverage). However a licensee could use the band for 3G services as 3G phones should scan this band when looking for 3G signals.

Ofcom are proposing to put both spectrum caps and spectrum floors when auctioning the spectrum so that the existing 2G operators cant get too much spectrum sub 1GHz (i.e. 1000MHz) - this really only affects O2 and Vodafone, who's 2G network was provisioned on 900MHz (Orange and T-Mobile got 1800MHz or 1.8GHz which again doesn't propagate as well as 900MHz which is slightly worse than 800MHz). The floors are there to ensure there's enough spectrum to run sensible broadband services over. Ofcom plan to offer at least 4 licenses of which some are expected to be new entrants (by capping the amount of spectrum owned in total the existing MNOs are restricted in grabbing all the new spectrum).

There's a slight fly in the ointment as when T-Mobile and Orange combined to form Everything Everywhere, they had to give back some of their 1800Mhz spectrum to comply with EU competition rules and Ofcom have thrown this excess spectrum in the pot too.

The Ofcom consultation closes on 31st May 2011 and stakeholders are invited to comment here.

The spectrum cant be made available prior to the digital switch-over as the 800MHz band will still be used for analogue TV until then and also Ofcom has made the 2.6GHz band available for use by wireless cameras in the forthcoming 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics.

Reuters Video: US Clean Energy Challenges

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
Here's a great Reuters video describing the challenges to U.S. Clean Energy Policy. Per the video, "Renewable Energy represents only 8% of America's overal energy supply, and that is expected to be virtually unchanged in the next decade... the Industry needs financial incentives, pressure on public policy, and improved public education.

EPA Issues Extension to Greenhouse Gas Reporting Deadline

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent

Here's an update from the March 17 2011 EPA Press Release:
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule that extends the deadline for reporting 2010 data under the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program to September 30, 2011. The original deadline was March 31, 2011. EPA previously announced its intent to extend the deadline on March 1, 2011.

Under the GHG Reporting Program entities required to submit data must register with the electronic GHG reporting tool (e-GGRT) no later than 60 days before the reporting deadline. With this reporting deadline extension, the new deadline for registering with e-GGRT is August 1, 2011.

Following conversations with industry and others and in the interest of providing high quality data to the public this year, EPA is extending this year’s reporting deadline to September 30, 2011. This extension will allow EPA to further test the system that facilities will use to submit data and give industry the opportunity to test the tool, provide feedback, and have sufficient time to become familiar with the tool prior to reporting.

In addition to the nine rulemakings necessary to comply with congressional direction for the program, over the past two years EPA has established a public help center that operates through our website and efficient mechanisms for stakeholders to get answers from EPA experts to detailed technical questions. EPA has also conducted training sessions with each affected sector and held hundreds of meetings with stakeholders across the country.

EPA’s GHG Reporting Program, launched in October 2009, requires the reporting of GHG data from large emission sources across a range of industry sectors, as well as suppliers of products that would emit GHGs if released or combusted. The data will help guide policy decisions and the development of future programs which the Agency might implement to reduce these emissions. It will also help industries and businesses find ways to be more efficient and save money.

For more information on these actions:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/extension.html

For more information on the GHG Reporting Program:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ghgrulemaking.html "

Ofcom forces mobile operators to reduce termination rates

Ofcom published a statement that the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) would have their mobile termination rates reduced from April 1st.

Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone will have their current rate of 4.18p per minute reduced to 2.66p per minute on the 1st of April, while 3 (3UK) will have their rate reduced from 4.48p per minute to the 2.66p per minute rate. Next year the rate for all 4 MNOs will drop to 2.66p per minute then 1.70ppm, 1.08ppm and by 2015 0.69ppm.

This should be reflected in call charges by the MNOs and fixed line operators such as BT.

This doesn't affect data charges which the MNOs can still charge a premium for (though Ofcom will surely cap these too, especially for roaming customers).

This is in-line with European policy as the EU Commission expects mobile termination rates to be between 1.5 and 3c by 2015.

Linking Pay to Sustainability

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent

WBCSD's People Matter Project's new Issue Brief on Reward features companies that are pioneering their own ways to reflect sustainability in pay, bonuses and non-financial rewards. The most common is a balanced scorecard system, which gives each executive their own objectives tied to the company's strategic financial and non-financial objectives.
Chris Librie, Director of Global Sustainability at SC Johnson says integrating sustainability into the incentives and appraisals of senior managers has been crucial to advancing greener product development "When we started we didn't have it all figured out, but realized that we had to do something. Making it explicit and incentivizing performance had a great benefit. We would not have been able to achieve this if it had not been part of the objectives of senior people."

Shipboard mobiles now license exempt

Ofcom today made the use of handsets on boats license exempt (while connected to a basestation on the the boat).

Mobile handsets are already license exempt when connected to a fixed basestation in the UK (which are run by a mobile operator). Both shipboard and land based basestations are covered under the mobile operators' 2G or 3G licenses.

The full statement can be seen here and is in-line with European directives.

Really sneaky Facebook "bug"

It's not really a bug, but if you go into a Facebook event page and then paste the following: -

"javascript:elms=document.getElementById('friends').getElementsByTagName('li');for(var fid in elms){if(typeof elms[fid] === 'object'){fs.click(elms[fid]);}}"

Without the first and ending double quote into the browser's address bar (i.e. not into Facebook, but the browser viewing Facebook), it should select ALL your Facebook friends and invite them to the event.

Scary ...