Top Big Data Challenges, Revisited
There's also a shortage of people who can get the most out of all this new data. Harvard business review called Data Scientist the sexiest job of the 21st century (it certainly sounds sexier than "actuary," which is perhaps the closest 20th century equivalent!). Data Scientists have deep analytic and statistical skills combined with knowledge of the business. They are in high demand and they command high salaries. What's new is that technology is helping to remove some of the the bottlenecks. For example there are now easier to use, more automated predictive analytics tools that can be deployed by, say, marketing staff looking to optimize campaigns.Stakeholder Engagement: The Elephant in the Room
A process of any description is, in many ways, a means to an end—it helps us achieve a goal, output or outcome. Yet different stakeholders will want to achieve different things from that process—and sometimes these needs and wants might conflict. Uncovering these areas of disagreement early, discussing them and working to gain consensus is extremely beneficial. This builds engagement from the very beginning, makes it much more likely that we’ll foresee issues, and makes it much more likely that the process will deliver the benefits and outcomes that we are aiming for.How IIT Bombay is popularizing robotics in India through its flagship initiative, e-Yantra
e-Yantra Lab Setup Initiative (eLSI) provides guidance in setting up Robotics labs at colleges and trains a team of 4 teachers from each college. The eLSI does this through a three pronged approach. The first component of the e-Yantra Lab Setup initiative trains teachers through a two-day workshop on basic concepts in Embedded systems and Micro-controller programming, conducted at a coordinating college termed Nodal Center (NC), in different regions of the country. At the end of the workshop teacher team from each participating college is given a robotic kit to participate in an extended training program called Task Based Training (TBT).Cars May Soon Understand More of What You Say
Ortiz says that such technology is now in the vehicle production pipeline, which means it may appear within a few years. It will primarily allow for more natural control of dashboard features and retrieval of information such as directions. “In the navigation domain, we’re developing methods to describe points of interest more abstractly,” he says. “I don’t always know the exact address of where I want to go. I want to be able to say ‘I want to go to a restaurant in the marina near the ballpark.’ “ Nuance came to dominate the market for voice-recognition technology over the past decade after acquiring various other companies in that space.Cloud inventory management for CIOs: Build guardrails, not roadblocks
Organizations of all kinds are encountering workers using cloud apps without IT's knowledge. The usage stems from both individual workers seeking out cloud apps to help them perform a particular task, as well as entire departments lighting up enterprise apps in the cloud, said Forrester Research analyst Lauren Nelson. It's easy to do in both cases and often creates efficiencies in business processes for the workers and departments involved. Unfortunately, many CIOs are left out of the loop, and as a result, they quickly lose track of what apps are performing which functions, Nelson said. "You think you've identified what's being used, but then you find there are people using apps that didn't go through your process."CIOs say AppleCare for Enterprise is lacking
Some of the services CIOs want from AppleCare for Enterprise, such as setup, training and technical support, are available as part of Apple's Joint Venture program, but it's managed by Apple retail stores and all eligible products must be purchased through Apple directly. Appley says Shorenstein pays $500 per year for this service and it covers up to five individuals, each of whom can receive support for multiple Apple devices. "It helps us get to the front of the line at the Genius Bar," he says. Businesses that pay for membership in the Joint Venture program also get up to 6 hours of in-store training each year and receive in-store assistance with device setup, including supervised data transfer from other devices.The 12 disruptive tech trends you need to know
People pay plenty of money for consulting giants to help them figure out which technology trends are fads and which will stick. You could go that route, or get the same thing from the McKinsey Global Institute’s in-house think-tank for the cost of a new book. No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends, was written by McKinsey directors Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, and Jonathan Woetzel, and offers insight into which developments will have the greatest impact on the business world in coming decades. Below, we’re recapping their list of the “Disruptive Dozen”—the technologies the group believes have the greatest potential to remake today’s business landscape.Combining Knowledge- and Data-driven Methods for De-identification of Clinical Narratives
A recent promise and the potential of wider availability of data from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) to support clinical research are often hindered by personal health information that is present in EHRs, raising a number of ethical and legal issues. De-identification of such data is therefore one of the main pre-requisites for using EHRs in clinical research. As a result, there is a growing interest for automated de-identification methods to ultimately aid accessibility to data by removing Protected Health Information (PHI) from clinical records. De-identification of unstructured data in particular is challenging, as PHI can appear virtually anywhere in a clinical narrative or letter.Worried About a Cyber-Apocalypse? AIG Wants to Sell You a Policy
Zurich Insurance Group AG and Munich Re say they are considering offering infrastructure-damage policies similar to AIG’s. None of the companies has signed a contract. “We are listening to our customers, who tell us they are looking for larger limits -- some as high as $1 billion in coverage for cyber property damage and business interruption for larger corporate properties and facilities,” said Dan Riordan, chief executive officer of Zurich Global Corporate in North America. He wouldn’t say how much coverage Zurich might provide. Since the first cyberpolicy was written in the late 1990s, insurers have been unwilling to provide coverage for all losses.The Hierarchy of Needs
Related to software quality this means for one thing that robustness, safety and understandability will become relevant only if the software is runnable on the customer’s device and performs the tasks it is intended for. Further it means that an increase in functionality may not result in a higher quality experience on the customer’s side if his or her functional needs are saturated but higher needs are not. For a potential customer functionality is central. For a customer who uses the software already the functionality is more of a given fact. He or she will often expect other and higher quality attributes instead in a new release.Quote for the day:
"The problems we have today, cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them." -- Albert Einstein
