In this era of advanced analytics, there are many new challenges involving privacy and security of individuals, as computing power allows nonprofits, businesses, and researchers to gather ever-larger troves of information. Though it can be observed that there is a colossal increment in the amount of available data, we still only have two eyeballs and one brain! How a traditional library will look without a librarian, or an encyclopedia without an index? Scale that prospect up to the realms of web analytics, astronomy, high-speed finance, or even basketball statistics, and the problem becomes clear.

Research scientist Fernando Pérezof, University of California, Berkeley, recently spoke about it at a symposium titled “Weathering the Data Storm: The Promise and Challenges of Data Science,” hosted by the Institute for Applied Computational Science (IACS) at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

To read more, Please visit Harvard university article link given below:

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/01/the-promise-of-big-data/

By engaging more people in conversations/discussions related to company offerings via social media, organizations are creating brand awareness among mass. Today, creating hype for a soon to be launched product is easy & convenient with the help of social media, as it saves promotional cost as well as it helps in understanding consumer sentiment beforehand. By indulging in various social media conversations, people are actually acting like brand ambassadors & reviewers. Though chances of negative publicity cannot be ruled out entirely, still with a good structured online marketing strategy, immense benefits can be achieved. Few notable real time online advertising strategies deserve to be mentioned, such as following conversations and then joining them, saying no to discipline, getting legal permissions to use material, ensuring that the brand is never silent on social media, moving on when content gets stale, never ignoring negative feedback etc.

To read more, visit wall street journal article link given below:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303801304579407284034257414?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303801304579407284034257414.html

Big data is the buzzword and messenger, but not the whole story. Yes, tons of telecom use cases will fit the so-called 3 V’s of big data: volume, velocity of analysis and variety of technologies. But today, a rise of fourth V can be observed in the big data equation: Value, referring to optimizing performance, maximizing revenue & monetizing the telecom business in more sophisticated ways.

The Telecom Analytics & Big Data Market, a breakthrough analysis report by Dan Baker, editor of the Black Swan Telecom Journal & research director of Technology Research Institute, gives us new insights about telecom big data analysis. In an interview with Craig Galbraith, Mr. Baker speaks about competition, barriers of market entry, customer experience, network analytics, integration with cloud, outsourcing & big data.

Read more at...

http://www.billingworld.com/articles/2014/03/telecom-big-data-analyst-report-explores-solution.aspx

As most manufacturing firms know, Lean Six Sigma is a proven way to improve operations. It works best when initiatives are aligned with the broader strategic goals of the company.  However, Six Sigma initiatives must be aligned directly to a company's business goals. Senior leaders face a lot of challenges as they try to connect day-to-day activities with strategy. Lean Six Sigma initiatives address these strategic gaps and issues, generating breakthrough performance. Leading companies, that have adopted the Six Sigma methodology, have seen major improvements in their processes. Initiatives are originally sought by adopting what we call a Focused Lean Six Sigma approach. This approach takes a different perspective to create long-lasting change.

For call centres too, to make your task easy, there are different performance management solutions that you can put to use to know various aspects – out of which you can make out areas of improvements. But for this, you have to know how to use your performance management solution. Read more at:  

http://www.callcentrehelper.com/trade-secrets-getting-the-best-from-your-performance-management-solution-60462.htm

GoSigmaWay Consulting Services [www.gosigmaway.com] offers various training programs on “Lean six sigma”, apart from their arsenal of cutting edge consultancy solutions to enable your organization achieve its performance goals.

While various Analytics softwares help you to track & get basic traffic and visitor data, they also have few yet hazardously significant holes. There are many reasons for getting irrelevant, non required and Null/missing data. Some examples of the areas from which you might be getting conflicting data are Internal Traffic, Direct Traffic, Mobile Traffic, Private Browsing Traffic, Keyword Traffic, Social Media etc.

To know more, visit the following link:

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/what-analytics-is-hiding/

Recently, Harvard Business Professor Mikołaj Jan Piskorski, spoke about marketing strategy implementation through social media during a conversation with marketing guru & author Mr. Steve Olenski.

Drawing on his analysis of proprietary data from social media sites, Piskorski argues that the secret behind every successful organization is that they allow people to fulfil social needs that either can’t be met offline or can be met only at a much higher cost. This insight provides logic about how companies can leverage social platforms to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Companies need to help people interact with each other, before they promote products to their friends. If all goes fine and right steps are followed, a company’s social media should benefit its customers as well as the firm. Piskorski calls this ‘a social strategy’.

To read more visit the following link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2014/03/17/social-media-and-branding-a-one-on-one-with-a-harvard-business-professor/

SigmaWay Consulting Services offer various solutions to help you align your social media efforts to your business goals, from brand awareness to targeting customer base to increase customer satisfaction. For more information, please visit http://www.gosigmaway.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=555

Today, technology is an integral part of any business looking for sustainable growth. Banking sector is no different. Handling branches is an important day-to-day operation and hence, banks need to deploy adequate resources for the same. From simplifying payments with person-to-person transfers to eliminating the need for passwords with voice recognition software, technology is revolutionizing how account holders manage their money. The result is that bank branches are looking less crowded.

To read more, visit:

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/4-ways-tech-will-change-your-bank-branch-cm329072

When it comes to delivering software, today’s business climate has three prerequisites for success: speed, agility, and innovation. While multi-year, expensive and bloated software initiatives were once a reality for some companies, today’s expectations for new projects are measured in days, weeks, and months. Today, leaders understand that a faster, iterative approach can result in faster development that is also of a higher quality.

To read more, Visit:

http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/10/continuous-delivery/

Advanced analytics is an opportunity to redefine the banking sector. Some banks will seize that opportunity and will be able to explore the market & gain significant market share. Just like, some banks had initiated providing ATMs & internet services to customers, in order to truly create a differentiated position for themselves, enabling them to achieve competitive advantage over the rest.

Innovators are using big data and analytics to sharpen risk assessment and drive revenue. Banks who are implementing data analytics will be in an advantageous position for some period of time, while other banks playing catch up. So there’s an opportunity to make some smart, targeted investments. If you want to sustain your banking business in today’s volatile market, Think big, Think innovation! Think analytics!

To Read more, Visit......

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/how_advanced_analytics_are_redefining_banking

Cloud is a buzzword that has been taking circles in the IT world for the past few years. Today, every organization demands more software deployment and significant reduction in the response time. To achieve improvement in efficiency and to utilize the resources better, cloud is the sure shot answer.  Cloud infrastructure is also improving its efficiency, availability and security. People who were looking at cloud with suspicion, are now preparing themselves to adopt the technology in a large scale. Cloud is definitely here to stay. There are 3 types of cloud services in offer, namely public, private and hybrid. In the BFSI sector, as data security is one of the core issues, the tendency towards private cloud preference is obvious.

Johnson K Jose, Deputy General Manager, IT Department, Federal Bank, talks about the benefits of adopting cloud model & preference for private cloud in BFSI sector. To read about his views, visit the following link:

http://ibm.informationweek.in/interviews/item/245-private-cloud-is-the-preferred-flavor-in-the-bfsi-segment.html

The box of treasure that analytics promises, contains the ability to fully understand customer behavior, derive actionable insights, and further tailor customer experiences to meet the needs of any segment. It is estimated  that big data will grow from 12 billion dollar industry to 53 billion dollar industry by 2017. However, with various types of investments and expectations that exist across many industries; it will not be easy to achieve the capabilities needed to derive deep insights and decisions making mechanism. Many firms still struggle with capturing basic information, collecting external customer information, social media information, and measuring wallet share. However, based on a recent Forbes survey, 63% of the firms reported a transformation impact on their business, by an integrated approach to analytics, where predictive modelling, customer analytics, and big data are working together using cloud services. The investments are starting to pay off, which indicates there may really be a pot of gold that awaits those who pursue the analytics path.

To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.business2community.com/business-intelligence/reaching-pot-gold-investments-analytics-paying-0801572#ssAKHfblgoitLWGX.99

Banks are the backbone of every economy. With the help of data analytics, banks are defining the modern age of customer retention & services through out the world. However, the Indian BFSI sector is yet to implement data analytics in their day-to-day operations. Mohan Jayaraman, Experian Credit Information Company of India, explains how Indian banks can improve their customer lifecycle by using data analytics. To read about his views visit:

http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/perspective/287791/indian-banks-improve-customer-lifecycle-analytics

Social media is a platform where people can create, share or exchange information and ideas through interaction. The rise of Big Data has prompted many organizations to utilize data analysis for making marketing decisions .Social media is an important way to track  vast amount of data. Organizations are now developing tools intended for this purpose.

 Some of the trending social media analytics tools are:

1. Social Report.

2. Social Mention.

3. Simply Measured.

4. Cyfe.

5. Sprout Social.

6. SumAll.

To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/65195-6-Social-Media-Analytics-Tools-for-Merchants

Enterprise Performance Management or commonly known EPM is a management field of Business Performance Management which considers the visibility of operations in a closed-loop model across all facets of the enterprise. 

Nowadays, big data analytics is helping EPM in factoring a lot more unstructured data than what was possible earlier, along with duly capturing customer sentiments and feedback. A second key impact of Big Data on EPM is that analytics will be a function not restricted to the IT team, but the wider organization will be able to deconstruct data with the use of easy-to-use analytics tools.

To read more, Visit the following link:

http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/perspective/287755/impact-analytics-enterprise-performance-management

What is Cloud? The cloud computing is a phrase, which is used to describe a variety of computing concepts that involve a large number of systems connected through a communication network such as the Internet. It also means the ability to run an application on many connected computers at the same time.

Entrepreneurship emphasizes on innovation and as we all know, innovation leads to sustainability in this volatile demand & application driven market.

The current technological environment demands these two factors, cloud and entrepreneurship to come together as an explorer combo pack. The idea is like start ups can swipe a credit card, buy a little bit of infrastructure and get the idea off the ground. And it doesn't matter if a company’s idea is related to technology, marketing or consumer products. It is a very fast and efficient means of getting the back office & customer-facing capabilities moving.

To read more- visit the following link:

 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20140301/NJBIZ/303010002/Cloud-computing-discussed-at-NJ-tech-conference?nclick_check=1

Movies! This word creates a taste of entertainment, a sense of refreshment among the minds of audience. We all would like to see movies that satisfy our genre-wise thirst. Also we prefer watching movies that includes our favorite stars or from our favorite directors or even sometimes we prefer watching movies from our favorite production houses.  don't we? Even, the ratings given by movie rating agencies and critics affects our decision about whether to watch a movie or not.

Now a days, our advantage is that we can predict how a movie will perform by using various analytics models.

Read more at

http://www.kdnuggets.com/2013/12/movie-analytics-india-dhoom-3-to-don-3.html

The last five years, we have seen a massive upsurge of data; we have generated 90 percent of the entire world's data in the last two years!!! Why today analytics is so successful? Just because of availability of data? No! We have to admit the technological advancement we made through the last decade to analyze the available data, also the success can be attributed to the decreased cost of storage space. Twenty years ago, we had all the data analysis tools in place but data was scarce. Today there is a frightening abundance of data... But then what to do with this available data and how! Yeah we got the techniques, but we need the applicability mapping... Think about the applicability of analytics into the telecom sector, which represents an agile supply chain management ...These examples points to the tremendous possibilities that big data offer in telecom sector. But we must never forget the underlying secret: only blue-blooded telecom experts can usher in this exciting telecom future. Today's big buzzword is big data. Its companion, buzzword analytics, is also a big favorite. There are good reasons why this is so. 

For More Information Go To This Link:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/a-secret-about-analytics-114030200628_1.html

How about a system which can learn from its mistakes? How about a system which can evolve over time automatically? We refer to these features as Artificial Intelligence, exhibited by a software or by a machine. 

To Read More: visit the following link...

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/22/robots-google-ray-kurzweil-terminator-singularity-artificial-intelligence

The numbers are coming in thick and fast but can big data and advanced analytics influence a team’s performance in the Soccer Premier Leagues?

Since the 1950s, when retired RAF pilot Charles Reep’s roughly-researched analytics led to the long-ball strategy, the football community has been enthralled by statistics. Today Premier League teams and their followers are being inundated with data as high-tech cameras capture every pass, dribble, free kick or touch of the ball while monitoring players’ xy coordinates every tenth of a second throughout the 90-minute match! What we call it as?

For more information check the following link:

http://knowledge.insead.edu/operations-management/beyond-moneyball-data-mining-the-premier-league-3155

In recent years, data mining has been used widely in the areas of science and engineering, such as bioinformatics, genetics, medicine, and electrical power engineering. Several researchers and organizations have conducted reviews of data mining tools and surveys of data miners. These identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of the software packages. They also provide an overview of the behaviors, preferences and views of data miners. How about reaching a few inches deep into the applicability and usability of data mining which is the analysis stage of a typical KDD in terms of Education?

Please Follow this link

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/harnessing-data-mining-to-revolutionise-education/article5690365.ece