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| Photo by datarep |
Big Data is looked at by some as a "revolution" that is only in its early stage. Whether or not that's true is up to time to tell but there is one thing for sure. Big data is too "big" to ignore.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
What Is Big Data?
What is Big Data? How is it used and why is it becoming more and more important to our lives? To be concise, big data is a term used to describe the growth and availability of data. Big Data can used to perform predictive behavioral analysis for example. The concept behind big data is that when you collect such massive amounts of data, you can draw conclusions between two sets to formulate actual business intelligence from it. For example, there are now countless digital sensors worldwide in industrial equipment, automobiles, electrical meters and shipping crates. They can measure and communicate location, movement, vibration, temperature, humidity, even chemical changes in the air. All of this gathered information can then be used to formulate correlations, regressions, and other predictive metrics. Below are some popular real-world example of how using big data can create a valuable advantage in creating business intelligence.
Some retailers, like Walmart and Kohl’s, analyze sales, pricing and economic, demographic, and weather data to tailor product selections at particular stores and determine the timing of price markdowns. This naturally creates a competitive advantage against competitors. Shipping companies, like UPS., gather data on truck delivery times and traffic patterns to fine-tune routing. This not only decreases their costs but also can improve customer service. One of my favorite examples is the use of big data by some police departments across the country. These Police departments use computerized mapping and analysis of variables like historical arrest patterns, paydays, sporting events, rainfalls, and holidays to try to predict likely crime “hot spots” and deploy officers there in advance.
Big Data is looked at by some as a "revolution" that is only in its early stage. Whether or not that's true is up to time to tell but there is one thing for sure. Big data is too "big" to ignore.
Big Data is looked at by some as a "revolution" that is only in its early stage. Whether or not that's true is up to time to tell but there is one thing for sure. Big data is too "big" to ignore.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Why Apple Pay Is The Start Of Something Great
With the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus recently, a huge incentive to upgrading to these devices was the ability to pay for your bill at select retailers while using Apple Pay. While this may not seem like a very captivating point, lets elaborate on Apple Pay and why it is going to change the way we pay for things.
Many people are saying that swiping a card is easy enough, why would I need to upgrade to just scanning my phone? While this may be accurate, it is not simply the time it takes to swipe/scan each time you purchase something. In 2015 swiping your card will be replaced by inserting your card so if scanning your phone doesn't seem like the best way to pay, it will soon.
Security. It comes to everybody's mind when analyzing Apple Pay. With the breaches at retailers like Target and Home Depot in the recent news, people are more concerned than ever about the security of their data. Well Apple took this into deep consideration when developing Apple Pay. Many say that it is in fact the most secure from to make payments. Not only do you have to scan your fingerprint before using, but perhaps more importantly your card numbers are no longer transmitted across the network or stored by merchants. This can be attributed to a concept called tokenization. Tokenization uses a special number or "token" that is sent from your device instead of your actual card number. This token is basically useless to a hacker or another third-party individual. Not to mention, a hacker or their would not be able to use this token to their advantage without your fingerprint anyway.
What does this mean for the rest of us? Well I believe this is the start of the next generation of payments. While many consumers today believe that swiping a card is already easy and that they don't need a digital wallet like Apple Pay, there is so great of an upside that people need to look at what lies in the future. The great Steve Jobs once said, "People don't know what they want until you show them". I think people will not feel the need to update to a digital wallet until they realize what is possible. To think that in the future you could walk into a store and select what gift card/credit card/debit card you want to use and be able to pay in seconds with state of the art security is an opportunity we have to take advantage of. The sky is the limit with all of the big data analytics emerging today. Digital wallets could even incorporate various spending reports, personal account analyses, predictive spending, (etc.) all at the touch of your fingers.
Whether we as consumers adopt Apple Pay or other similar products is not the question at hand. I believe that eventually this will become the main form of payment amongst all consumers. On a relevant note, people were skeptical with paying on credit cards when they were first introduced into the market. Consumers will (hopefully) soon realize this change is more than just a new way of doing things. It is a new door of possibilities in which we should explore and elaborate this advancement in technology.
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| Photo by Forbes |
Security. It comes to everybody's mind when analyzing Apple Pay. With the breaches at retailers like Target and Home Depot in the recent news, people are more concerned than ever about the security of their data. Well Apple took this into deep consideration when developing Apple Pay. Many say that it is in fact the most secure from to make payments. Not only do you have to scan your fingerprint before using, but perhaps more importantly your card numbers are no longer transmitted across the network or stored by merchants. This can be attributed to a concept called tokenization. Tokenization uses a special number or "token" that is sent from your device instead of your actual card number. This token is basically useless to a hacker or another third-party individual. Not to mention, a hacker or their would not be able to use this token to their advantage without your fingerprint anyway.
What does this mean for the rest of us? Well I believe this is the start of the next generation of payments. While many consumers today believe that swiping a card is already easy and that they don't need a digital wallet like Apple Pay, there is so great of an upside that people need to look at what lies in the future. The great Steve Jobs once said, "People don't know what they want until you show them". I think people will not feel the need to update to a digital wallet until they realize what is possible. To think that in the future you could walk into a store and select what gift card/credit card/debit card you want to use and be able to pay in seconds with state of the art security is an opportunity we have to take advantage of. The sky is the limit with all of the big data analytics emerging today. Digital wallets could even incorporate various spending reports, personal account analyses, predictive spending, (etc.) all at the touch of your fingers.
Whether we as consumers adopt Apple Pay or other similar products is not the question at hand. I believe that eventually this will become the main form of payment amongst all consumers. On a relevant note, people were skeptical with paying on credit cards when they were first introduced into the market. Consumers will (hopefully) soon realize this change is more than just a new way of doing things. It is a new door of possibilities in which we should explore and elaborate this advancement in technology.
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