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eWeek: Analytics as "IBM’s Brilliant Trojan-Horse Strategy Technology"

Bob Evans at eWeek has posted an article (Global CIO: IBM's Brilliant Trojan-Horse Strategy Transcends Technology) that brings to light work that IBM is doing around analytics that extends far beyond what the stereotypical notion of IBM might be.

He's referring to retail sales forecasts provided by IBM, and in this case reported so nonchalantly by the Wall Street Journal that Evans did a double-take when seeing just who was providing the analysis.  "What also struck me about the very short article was that there was absolutely no mention of the apparent strangeness of IBM—an iconic computer and technology company—making such forecasts."

The predictions in question derive from work by Michael Haydack, leader of IBM's retail analytics group.  Haydock, a mathematician who specializes in applying advanced analytics to retail and manufacturing, has been sharing this index with clients for the past several quarters.  According to an IBM spokesman, "The index is based on 18 years of data accumulated by IBM, and has proven to be 99% accurate."  

Evans sums up well why work like this is so central to IBM's strategy (emphasis mine):

For the past couple of years, IBM has made it unmistakably clear that it intends to be a world leader in advanced analytics and predictive analytics because it believes the related technologies that it has developed or acquired and assimilated can be harnessed by customers to provide unprecedented levels of foresight into future behaviors, probabilities, and outcomes, which thereby let those IBM customers make better business decisions about that not-so-unknown future.

By moving aggressively into that technology space with its huge commitment to advanced analytics and predictive analytics, and by moving subtly into that interrelated business space with Michael Haydock's retail-sales forecasting, IBM has elegantly extended its considerable market position from the vital business of technology products and services to the unfolding world of helping customers understand—and take full advantage of—the future.

You can learn more about Michael Haydock's work here (press release: IBM Forecasts Bump in U.S. Retail Electronics and Appliance Sales) and IBM's broader work with the retail industry here.

Related:  An interesting article in Retail Industry News (Meeting the Demands of the Smarter Consumer) by Patricia Vekich Waldron, worldwide distribution executive, business analytics at IBM.

eWeek: IBM Business Analytics: 20 Ways Big Blue Rules

  • Author: Adam Gartenberg
  • August 24, 2010
  • Category:  IBM  Analytics 

eWeek has posted a slideshow titled "IBM Business Analytics: 20 Ways Big Blue Rules."  Head on over to the site for highlights of IBM's innovation, capabilities, and the successes organizations are seeing with our solutions.

IBM has become a major proponent of business analytics. The emergence of smarter systems that are interconnected and streaming real-time information is presenting enterprises with a unique opportunity to transform decision making. New opportunities to use this data to predict business outcomes, optimize old systems and spot trends before they happen have become a reality. Overall, IBM views analytics as a strategic directive for the company, coming from its top management. The company's strategy includes a team of 5,000 consultants and a network of analytics solution centers, and it is backed by an overall investment of more than $11 billion in acquisitions in the last five years. This slide show shows 20 ways IBM is pushing the analytics envelope, including several industry-specific and customer examples.






Free predictive analytics seminars - cities and dates

  • Author: Adam Gartenberg
  • August 11, 2010
  • Category:  ibm  spss  events 

If you're interested in learning more about predictive analytics (or are already using SPSS and want in-depth information), there's a free event series kicking off next week that you should take a look at.  The roadshow will be visiting 7 major US and Canadian cities over the next 30 days, and will offer tracks for those new to predictive analytics or IBM SPSS, those already using SPSS, and those using Cognos software who may be interested in learning more about the value that can be added by incorporating predictive analytics.

Please visit spss.com/perspectives to register for this free event and for additional details.

Dates/Cities

  • August 19 - Los Angeles
  • August 24 - New York
  • August 25 - Cincinnati
  • August 26 - Toronto
  • Seotember 2 - Atlanta
  • September 8 - Washington DC
  • September 15 - Indianapolis

About the Event
Predictive Perspectives are exclusive free seminars that offer an inside look at how predictive analytics can help your organization. Whether you are new to the subject or an experienced practitioner, you’ll gain valuable information on the latest predictive analytics technologies, success stories, strategies and best practices. You must register to reserve your space at these free seminars.

Predictive Perspectives offers a variety of tracks and sessions to help you gain bigger returns and better results.

Track 1 - The Predictive Analytics Overview Track is perfect for those who are new to predictive analytics or to IBM SPSS products.

Track 2 - The Technology Deep Dive Track offers in-depth information for current users of IBM SPSS predictive analytics software.

Track 3 - The Business Intelligence and Performance Management Overview Track shows how to add value to your IBM Cognos software by incorporating predictive analytics

For more information, please visit http://www.spss.com/perspectives/

IBM Helps NC State University Bring Innovative Technologies to Market by Harnessing "Big Data"

In analytics news from my backyard, IBM and North Carolina State University today announced a new project that will take advantage of Big Data analytics technology to match academic research with potential investors.  The biggest challenge in this process today is being able to quickly and easily comb through a large amount of data to uncover potential investors and partnerships.  From the press release:

To address this challenge, NC State will use IBM's advanced analytics technology to streamline the time consuming process of searching and matching potential university research projects with investment and partnership opportunities.

Analytics technology allows NC State researchers to search through massive amounts of Web data, such as blogs, forums, reports, industry related news sites and government websites to produce a short list of potential investors. By streamlining the matching process with business analytics, more advanced technologies are expected to be brought into the market.


For example, the technology was used to comb through and filter down 1.4 million Web pages (including blogs, social networks and documents) to the relatively small number of sites that are most relevant for the task at hand.  In the pilot project, it took less than a week it to find a potential match for a team investigating new strains of Salmonella, a process that might have taken months in the past.  As noted in the press release:  "Prior to the use of IBM analytics, this process would have taken months and involved dozens of people clipping newspaper reports, visiting Web pages, making telephone calls, hiring translators, and then trying to figure out a way to compare all these information."  When you consider that NC State has 3,000 technologies waiting to be commercialized, technology that can help greatly simplify and speed up the process of finding potential investors or partnerships can have a huge payoff.

The technology NC State is using for this project includes:
  • IBM BigSheets, a software engine from IBM's BigInsights portfolio that helps get insights from really large data sets easily and quickly
  • IBM LanguageWare, a text analytics tool created by IBM's Dublin Software Lab in Ireland for the purpose of harnessing unstructured data contained in text documents, Web site content and enterprise applications
  • IBM Cognos Content Analytics, an analytics software for accessing and analyzing unstructured content
  • These three components are running on IBM Distribution of Apache Hadoop

More details can be found in the press release (IBM Helps North Carolina State University Address 'Big Data' Challenge to Bring Innovative Technologies to Market),as well as the Smarter Planet blog (Big Data Could Help NC State Bring Faculty Innovations To Market) and the Triangle Business Journal (IBM analytics 'search engine' passes N.C. State tests).

Updated 8/11 with additional details.

IBM SPSS Predictive Analytics Helps City of Memphis Reduce Serious Crime by More Than 30%

  • Author: Adam Gartenberg
  • July 22, 2010
  • Category:  IBM  SPSS  Memphis 

Along with yesterday's report about the benefits Sun World is getting from predictive analytics comes another case study with very impressive results.  

IBM has been worked with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) to enhance its crime fighting techniques through the use of IBM predictive analytics software.  As a result of these efforts, the City of Memphis is reporting a 30% reduction in serious crime, including a 15% reduction in violent crimes since 2006.  These gains come from the ability to identify trends, forecast "hot spots" and proactively deploy resources and personnel to the areas that will need it most.

From the press release (Memphis Police Department Reduces Crime Rates with IBM Predictive Analytics Software):  "Aware that traditional policing approaches were becoming less effective, MPD created Blue CRUSH™, or CriminalReduction Utilizing Statistical History, an innovative, evidence-based approach using IBM predictive analytics software, built in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice."

Blue CRUSH uses IBM SPSS predictive analytics software to analyze past and present information and create multi-layer maps of crime "hot spots" based on various arrests and incidents. MPD is able to evaluate incident patterns throughout the city and connect the dots — such as outside of concert venues; or crime trends, such as increased car burglary on rainy nights. The software enables Blue CRUSH to analyze an array of data in areas as wide as the city's entire nine precincts or narrowed down to a single block.


Analyst firm Nucleus Research independently studied the deployment, and found that MPD recorded an 863 percent ROI in just 2.7 months, an average annual benefit of $7,205,501. You can download their full case study here.  This unique approach to fighting crime earned IBM and Memphis Police Department a 2010 Technology ROI Award from the firm.

You can also hear MPD Colonel James Harvey discuss how the department is using IBM predictive analytics software in the Blue CRUSH program here.

Link:  Memphis Police Department Reduces Crime Rates with IBM Predictive Analytics Software

Smarter Farming: California’s Sun World Transforms Produce Business with IBM Analytics Technology

  • Author: Adam Gartenberg
  • July 21, 2010
  • Category:  IBM  Cognos 

In a press release issued this morning (Smarter Farming: California's Sun World Transforms Produce Business with IBM Technology), IBM shared how Sun World LLC is using IBM Cognos TM1 BI and analytics technology from IBM Business Partner Applied Analytix to "improve crop yields, reduce waste and expand its customer base, while providing more cost effective and energy efficient harvesting practices."

Sun World's Director of Budgets and Reporting describes how the use of analytics has allowed them to shift from being forced to observe costing trends only after the fact to being able to make proactive decisions based on the direction they anticipate costs to go:

"We've aimed to transform the company culture from a farming business where you 'grow and hope for the best' to one that uses information analytics to provide an accurate measurement of the business," said Sun World's Director of Budgets & Reporting Steve Greenwood. "Before, we didn't know until 30 days after the month how our harvest costs were trending. By that time, it was too late to start financial planning because the crops had already been harvested. We've turned raw data into business insight, improved our order fill rates, and have gone from being a reactive company to a proactive company."


Other benefits from the application of analytics technology cited by the company include:
  • 8.5% reduction in water usage (especially important in California's climate)
  • 10-15% reduction in labor costs
  • 20% reduction in use of fuel
  • 8% increase in efficiency in farm labor
  • 20% increase in sales to key customer segments, generating $3M in new business

For further highlights, please see the full press release.

Link:  Smarter Farming: California's Sun World Transforms Produce Business with IBM Technology

New Analytics YouTube Channel and Profile of DC Water

Today marks the launch of a new YouTube Channel for IBM analytics.  Along with serving as a one-stop-shop for all things related to IBM analytics, the site will feature a series of videos focused on client stories.  

First up is a profile of DC Water, the water and sewer authority for Washington, DC.  DC Water is using IBM predictive analytics software integrated with a mapping application to better manage the city's aging water and sewer systems, which serves 1.6 million people and involves hundreds of miles of pipes and mains, some of which date back to the Lincoln administration.

The authority has replaced its paper-based processes with a software-based approach that lets them keep track of weather conditions, maintenance, and hundreds of other variables to spot potential problems, such as water main breaks, before they happen.  The new system also lets them do things like share the real-time status of more than 9,000 public fire hydrants with the Fire Department so they will know the level of water flow to expect even before they arrive at a fire scene.

Please watch the video for more on this great story, and be sure to subscribe to the IBM Analytics channel for updates as they get posted.



Links:

InfoSphere Streams Receives "Top 100 Innovative Products" Award from R&D Magazine

Congratulations to my colleagues (and our customers) working with InfoSphere Streams, which was named one of the top 100 innovative products by R&D Magazine.  InfoSphere Streams is unique in its ability to process incredibly high volumes of data in real-time from multitudes of data sources, utilizing a new streaming architecture and breakthrough mathematical algorithms.  The result is real-time analysis of everything from stock trades to traffic patterns to medical monitoring equipment, at rates of up to millions of inputs a second.

Selected by an independent judging panel and editors of R&D Magazine, the award acknowledges the research behind IBM's InfoSphere Streams as one of the most technologically significant achievements over the past year.  (The full list of winners can be found here.)  

The R&D Magazine Website describes the awards in more detail:  "The Awards, widely recognized as the "Oscars of Innovation", identifies and celebrates the top high technology products of the year. Sophisticated testing equipment, innovative new materials, chemistry breakthroughs, biomedical products, consumer items, high-energy physics: the R&D 100 Awards spans industry, academia, and government-sponsored research."

Nagui Halim, Director for InfoSphere Streams, was quoted in an article posted on IBM's intranet on why this award is so meaningful:
"The InfoSphere Streams team is incredibly pleased to receive this award that acknowledges the skill and incredible research and development talent that brought this powerful new technology to life," said IBM SWG's Nagui Halim, Director of InfoSphere Streams. "The research and development team behind InfoSphere Streams actually started mapping out the concept for this technology's incredible potential back in 2003. We knew that there was a growing need to deal with increasing floods of data while being able to correlate and refine it in real time -- and our researchers took the challenge to find a solution head on. Finding the answer to this real world problem was the real motivator."

I've written plenty about InfoSphere Streams before, as the new outcomes the technology can deliver really are game (and life) changing.  You can find more about InfoSphere Streams on ibm.com.

Inheriting a Complex World

  • Author: Adam Gartenberg
  • July 7, 2010
  • Category:  IBM 

At IOD EMEA we highlighted some of the results from the recent CEO study IBM conducted (specifically zeroing in on the implications of more than 60% of CEOs surveyed citing industry transformation and the information explosion as the most significant factors facing their organizations over the next 5 years. )  

This year we didn't only survey CEOs, but for the first time IBM reached out to 3,600 college and graduate students to see how the views of tomorrow's leaders might differ from today's.

Students' perceptions have been profoundly shaped by the digital and interconnected world of their school years. What is the impact of those experiences? Given the world they inherited from previous generations, what do today's students believe about the role of public and private organizations? Most importantly, when they become leaders themselves, what are they likely to do differently?


Over on his Analytics for Government blog (Are our Future Leaders More Comfortable with Complexity?), Frank Stein highlighted some of the findings that have implications from an analytics standpoint :
We found that students who had the greatest sense of complexity put much more emphasis on the analytics and predictive capabilities of information.   They were 50% more likely to expect significant impact from increased information than peers who did not have the same sense of complexity.  And they were 22% more likely to believe that organizations should focus on insight and intelligence to enable their strategies.


All in all, it's interesting to see the contrast between today's students and today's leaders.  My guess is some of the differences stem from the more limited real-world experience students have, leading to a more optimistic take on things (they tended to view things as more complex but less volatile and uncertain).  

Click through to the report for all the details.

Links:

Mark Smith: IBM Advances Business Analytics and Optimization in First Year

  • Author: Adam Gartenberg
  • July 7, 2010
  • Category:  ibm  cognos  spss  bao 

Mark Smith, CEO & Executive Vice President of Research for Ventana Research, posted a summary on his Information Management blog (IBM Advances Business Analytics and Optimization in First Year) of the Business Analytics and Optimization analyst summit IBM held recently in Washington, DC.

In his post, he summarizes the topics touched on by the speakers at the event, which included Rob Ashe,  who spoke about IBM's software solutions for business analytics, and Michael Schroeck, who spoke on analytics simplification.  Several IBM customers were also present, and Mark notes how "both customers provided validation that the IBM approach to BAO is nimbler than most observers realize."

His closing paragraph reflects some of the areas he sees IBM needing to focus on (all of which, I'm glad to say, we are already taking action on), and how he sees IBM setting itself apart from others in the field:

Looking ahead, IBM needs to boost its BAO marketing efforts to demonstrate that its software and services can span industries and lines of business and show on its website more than just overviews of consulting on technologies. IBM needs to prove that it has a focus that line-of-business professionals can grasp easily and that integrates easily into collaboration and mobility where business need to full leverage the analytics. That said, IBM’s global efforts are the largest in the world, and its investments demonstrate its commitment to BAO. It will be difficult for other global providers to hire as many service professionals or amass the software portfolio of IBM.


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