Upgrading to Google-Like Speeds – UK Governmental Department Gets Real Time

October 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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Google something. Chances are you can find the answers you want before you finish reading this sentence. In fact, have you ever noticed Google times itself to see how fast it can produce results? In only 0.11 seconds, Google produced over 5 million results from a search of TIBCO. In today’s world, everyone wants information fast. No one wants to wait hours, days or weeks to receive the information they are looking for. With the instantaneity of emails, the Internet, and TIBCO, the world is moving at a much quicker pace. The UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) knows this well, and refuses to let innovation zoom past.

DVLA is an executive agency of the UK Department for Transport that maintains registrations of drivers and vehicles. The UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency faces the challenge of handling large volumes of forms and transactions quickly, but there are exceptions. Exceptions relating to medical conditions are passed to the Drivers Medical Group (DMG). The DMG relied heavily on document imaging systems to deal with paperwork, but the system previously in place became outdated which limited the capability to share cases between departments. The DMG needed something new; the company needed help. Imagine running a Google search and having to wait for someone to deal with your inquiry by hand, and then deliver you the information in the mail. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Automation, BPM, Government Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Data Analysis: Tracking Tornadoes, Terrorists and Bombs

October 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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Increasingly, federal agencies are tapping the power of big data and analytics to better perform a myriad of tasks, including predicting killer tornadoes, thwarting terrorist operations and disrupting the networks in Iraq and Afghanistan that build improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

weatherupdate Data Analysis: Tracking Tornadoes, Terrorists and BombsAs most of the East Coast hunkers down and braces for Hurricane Sandy, what better time to tell you how federal data scientists are using data analysis to track weather events, among other things?

For example, the National Weather Service is combining big data streaming in from its satellites with automated weather services to create models that are aimed at identifying potential tornadoes quickly enough so that the public can be warned.

“It used to be that weather reports came from weather stations,” says Greg Carbin, the warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. “Now, there are all sorts of automated services. Computers can digest the data, and they can make the models look like the real atmosphere.”

The agency’s weather forecasting approach could be a model for other federal agencies that are developing their own prediction models, Carbin notes.

For example, he suggests that the Federal Reserve Board could use the method for analyzing long-term economic data. The NWS model is sensitive to external data sources like fluctuating economic news, he adds. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Analytics and Optimization, Spotfire, Tech Trends, Two-Second Advantage Tagged With: , , ,

Innovation at its Finest: TIBCO LogLogic

October 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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There is a big difference between invention and innovation. Invention is the creation of something new. Innovation is doing something that has been done before, differently and better. Improving on a process, tool or solution is just as important as having the original. Our lives continually get better because of the innovations bettering the tools we already have. From automobiles, to airplanes, to cell phones, without innovation, we would be stuck in the stone ages. We might not be able to reinvent the wheel, but we can definitely innovate using it. TIBCO is not only a leader in infrastructure software, but also a leader in innovation.

The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin knows TIBCO’s innovative capabilities. The nation is a federally recognized sovereign nation that operates many of the functions typically found in other governments, such as Environmental Services, Law Enforcement, Licensing and Zoning, Public Works and Transit. The nation needed a company that would bring them success. The Oneida Tribe sought out LogLogic in order to have a log management solution compatible with an extensive range of log source devices and applications to help achieve PCI and HIPAA compliance. Oneida automated their log and security event management because of LogLogic, so the amount of time and resources they invest in managing IT environments has been significantly reduced. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cyber Security, Government Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Last Man Standing

October 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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For many years, the MDM market  has been segmented across data domains: 

  • Want to synchronize the product information on your Web site’s online store, back-end accounting systems and supply chain? Implement a product-specific MDM solution.
  • Want a single view of the customer across all of your systems? Implement a customer-specific MDM solution.

This model inevitably led to higher costs for customers and more data silos.

Most recently, TIBCO has been doing lots of work with retailers who want to convert passive customers to passionate “fans” by building powerful loyalty solutions. In order to make these loyalty programs operate in real time (when a customer is in the store or on your Web site), a single-domain MDM solution would not be sufficient.  How can a retailer build a loyalty solution with just customer data or just product data? They need a multi-domain MDM solution to make it all work together.

Our team here at TIBCO believes in the multi-domain MDM model – a platform model that enables our customers to leverage MDM skills and technology across whatever data domain they need.

For a while, there were other contrarians standing with us and together we offered customers the most value. Well, today it is clear that TIBCO stands alone as the only multi-domain MDM player. [Read more...]

Filed Under: MDM, Two-Second Advantage Tagged With: , , ,

Closing the Big Data Loop

October 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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It has been two weeks since TUCON 2012, the TIBCO user conference held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. TIBCO is well-known as an integration company but used the event to demonstrate its broad platform approach to the biggest challenges of today, like digital customer experience, loyalty, and the topic of this article, Big Data.

The TIBCO CTO, Matt Quinn spoke about the patterns hiding within the rapidly increasing amounts of data flowing across the enterprise. Quinn made an important distinction between data at rest, information sitting in databases or flat files waiting to be queried, and data in motion, which includes streaming data and data stored in-memory (also known as cache).

Quinn made the point that it takes analytics like those offered within TIBCO’s Spotfire product to be able to see what would be invisible to people trying to keep up with the increasing deluge of information. To Quinn, the smart enterprise finds patterns in historical and machine data (log files that up until recently weren’t mined for patterns) that provide insight that can be applied to data that’s coming at today’s “full speed.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: BPM, CEP, Cloud, Complex Event Processing (CEP), Event Processing, MDM, SOA, Social, Spotfire Tagged With: , , , , , ,

From Transactional Value to Emotional Experience – Converting Loyal Customers into Fans

October 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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If you spend even few minutes on the Web you will notice almost every business asks its customers to become a fan on its Facebook page. It doesn’t stop here; most companies ask you to like partner sites to accumulate loyalty points. In the last couple years, this major shift in how businesses approach customer loyalty, from transactional to emotional, is changing the game. Gone are the days when you knew if you spent so many dollars you would be rewarded with a defined value to redeem in a set way. Customers prefer to be surprised with new, innovative ways of rewarding their loyalty. This is not a new science; it always existed in sports, in a different way though. Wonder why people become fans of a sporting team and remain lifelong supporters? It is because their team satisfies their desire to be included in a group they like and want to be a part of.

Businesses understand the need to take loyalty beyond transactional value to a level of emotional gratification where loyal members turn into fans. One of the surest ways is the experience provided to customers in a dynamic loyalty program that can offer benefits in real-time scenarios. An airline is often exposed to flight delays and cancellations, which customers undoubtedly dislike. What if the airline provides its frequent flyers with seats in the earliest possible flight, or a free upgrade, or permissible change in destination? The airline not only turns an unlikely event into a good experience, but also offers an emotional value to its loyal members motivating them to be fans of the airline. Since they cannot offer benefits to all their inconvenienced customers they can rank customers on their social media behavior, and not just on a traditional transactional basis. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Loyalty, Two-Second Advantage Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Digital Disruption is Coming to Get You. Brace Yourself.

October 15, 2012 by 1 Comment
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Digital disruption is a concept highlighted in Forrester’s recent CIO Summit and UK Summit and is the subject of James L. McQuivey’s new book, which is due to be published in January 2013.

The key principles behind digital disruption are that it creates new business models, changes value streams, and is faster, more disruptive and more pervasive than any earlier change driver we have ever seen. Why? Because it is digital. And Forrester says, for those of you thinking of hunkering down and letting it blow past, like you did for previous trends – FORGET IT. This is not a trend. It is a permanent shift.

CEOs are scared, very scared

One good thing is that senior executives are aware of the challenge. 71% of global CEOs surveyed in IBM’s 2012 CEO Global Survey said the top external force of change is technology. Forrester CEO George Colony warned delegates at the CIO Summit: “There are many people now who want to disrupt your business. It does not cost much to disrupt business.” Business leaders are becoming more IT-savvy, according to Colony: “The average age of the CEO in the top 100 companies is 59. They went to college before computers. Most of the CEOs did not use computers. But today, we are seeing CEOs who had Apple II home computers or IBM PCs at school.”

Platforms make this possible

This fundamental issue is that the new platform providers, such as Apple, Amazon EC2 and Salesforce.com, are making it way faster and cheaper for new entrants to be disruptors and for them to get new ideas to market. Now it is possible to prototype not just new products and services but new businesses. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tech Trends Tagged With: ,

Personal. Connected. Social.

October 11, 2012 by 1 Comment
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A recent blog talked about Generation C, also known as our time’s Digital Natives. These are the folks who wouldn’t think twice about trying out a new social platform or using a mobile device as their first choice when deciding where to go, what to buy, and what’s happening in their world.

They are the leading edge of the next great technology wave, the move to a digital customer experience that is personal, connected and social. Sports fans were already social long before now, as tailgate parties, fantasy leagues and sports bars attest. That’s why a digitally native sports fan is the leading edge of the leading edge… a great place to showcase the future.

The app

At TUCON 2012, the Main Stage gave us that showcase. Presenters included Rick Welts, President and COO of the Golden State Warriors. Rick is a passionate basketball fan and was ahead of most of the NBA in moving forward with creation of a mobile app to connect fans with the team.

Rick worked with Vivek Ranadivé, part owner of the Warriors and CEO of TIBCO, to develop the Golden State Warriors app, chosen by TechNow! as the App of the Week a few months ago.

The app provides fans with news, stats, video and offers that are unique to using their mobile device. Even more clever, it embeds the tibbr social platform that allows posting and taking feeds from Facebook and Twitter, as well as connection to the Fan Zone, the Warriors loyalty program.

It becomes very easy to see what comes next as apps like this can be used to provide arena information, take feedback on services, suggestions for improved experiences, buying concessions courtside and a host of other capabilities that allow the fan and the team to become more connected. The road forward is pretty clear.

Beyond the NBA

While basketball may be the easiest place to find fans, this highlights a trend that will continue across other industries as enterprises wake up to the potential that social, mobile and loyalty bring in combination. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Loyalty, MDM, Social

E3 and The Big Three: TIBCO Spotfire and the 1980 Boston Celtics

October 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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The NBA is starting up again. The Boston Celtics have had a great team over the history of the NBA, but in 1980, General Manager “Red” Auerbach, saw an opportunity to put together a solid team like no other. Through shrewd draft picks and a trade, three future Hall of Famers joined the team – Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.  The men would become known as “The Big Three” because they showed promise to make the Celtics a dominant team again. With these three men, the team won the NBA championship in 1981. Just as the Celtics acquired The Big Three, TIBCO Spotfire helps Allergan, a pharmaceutical company, pursue the ideals of E3: becoming an Event-Enabled Enterprise.

Allergan is a global specialty pharmaceutical company that employs more than 10,000 people worldwide. The company operates world-class discovery and development facilities, as well as state-of-the-art manufacturing plants. Three was not just a magic number for the Celtics or Spotfire. A great team can lead any basketball franchise or pharmaceutical company to success. Allergan and Spotfire are one of these great teams. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Analytics and Optimization, Spotfire, Transform Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Standing in the Fire Hose of Data: Drowning or Refreshing?

October 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment
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Big Data is a great topic. Everyone recognizes the rise of the volumes of data being generated by individuals, systems and devices. There are some fabulous headline figures about data. It is the journalists’, analysts’ and bloggers’ dream.

IT vendors are jumping onto the bandwagon and any analysis and reporting capability they have is being rapidly re-architected to be able to cope with the dramatic increase in data volumes. Some of this is still marketing-ware. Others are already shipping, such as TIBCO Spotfire5, whose release was announced at TUCON, TIBCO’s annual user conference. But this is reactive… a cynical response to “sell more stuff.”

Big Data – So What?

What is far more interesting is the discussion that was a major part of the keynote at TUCON: “What opportunities does Big Data open up?”

The strapline of the conference was “Everything is different” and the walls of the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas were littered with some compelling statistics about the exponential rise in data volumes.  The idea is “while you were sleeping,” but of course, we’re in Las Vegas, so sleep is a secondary item!!

However, some of the numbers are staggering. While you were sleeping…

  • 294 billion emails were sent
  • 35 million apps were downloaded
  • more iPhones were bought than babies born
  • 250 million photos uploaded to Facebook
  • 2 million blog posts were written
  • information consumed on the internet would fill 168 millions DVDs

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Tech Trends, Transform, Two-Second Advantage Tagged With: ,
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