Trend #5: Big Data

There is an enormous amount of data floating around the world today and being able to analyze it all has become key. Big data can be described as data set so large that commonly used software can’t handle it and has to be used with special software. It is massive and usually unstructured. It is used in many industries, from health care and finance to travel booking sites and even sports.  It is expected that  data volumes will increase 50-fold by 2020.

There are some challenges with big data. One challenge is having a large enough space to store the data. We want to be able to have the capacity to have the date for us to use. One solution for that is to use cloud computing to save data in virtual servers. Another issue that may arise is will we understand the data when it comes in. We will need a tool or software that will interpret that data that we are pulling in. The main areas that areas that describe these challenges are called the 4 V’s : Variety, Velocity, Volume, and Value.

There are also opportunities of working with big data is to be able to extract information that was not available before. It allows us to identify trends, extract knowledge, and use data in a productive way. We can monitor various sources of big data so that we can a varying of information.

Big data seems to be a trend that we will not be able to avoid, so we should take early strives to embrace it.

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Trend #4: User Experience Strategy

Kreations by Kristin and Company has had a lot of success as an app design  and web design company. User experience helps us understand where we are now, where we want to be, how we will get there, and how we will measure success.  

Looking at the product that we are currently offering the customer, we can see if competitors currently offer the product, see if there are any gaps of flaws in our offerings. We also need to make sure that all products we offer are in line with each other.

Once we have gone over what we do offer, next we look at where we want our product to be in its next level. Have we noticed any ways that we can improve the products? Did we address all of the users needs? How do we want the user to interact with this product? These are all things that we have to address before we go on to the next phase.

The next phase is creating a game plan to get where we decided we wanted to be in previous phase. How are we going to address any of the gaps or improvements that we found we needed to fix? How long will this take us? We need to define all requirements and resources needed.

Finally we need to come up with a way to decide how to measure if we have been successful in implementing all of these changes. All goals need to be measureable so that we can keep track with progress.

The benefits of us developing a strategy will be for us to come closer to achieving our business goals. We are able to come together on one page as a company to decide what it is we are creating.  We can clarify any abstract thinking we may have as a group.  It will help us to reduce time that we spend working on projects that will add value to our company.

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Trend #3: Internet of Things

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More objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate.  In 2008 the number of these objects actually exceeded the number of people on Earth. We are able to communicate with all aspects of our lives from sometime with as little as one device.  The Internet of things describes how these everyday objects connect to the Internet to create a complex system that works together to make our lives easier.

The resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks .We are not just using computers to connect to the Internet; we are using them to control things. We can optimize this process so that we can control operations for the company more efficiently. There are many options to implement this such as options for energy saving in the offices. We can use sensors to connect to the electricity and employee can control office lights and power with cell phones.  Also heating and cooling systems can be programmed to know when employees are in the office. Then these objects can turn on and off accordingly.

In our warehouse sector, can also have sensors in company cars. This will allow us to keep inventory of our products as they travel from on warehouse to another. One thing we must consider as we move forward is the privacy and security aspect.  The more people that use this technology the more we have to keep our data. But this will overall will help us save move and man power with in our company.

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Trend #2: Gamification of Applications

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Gamification of applications has started to become common tool increase customers’ engagement in products or services. It focuses on increasing the customer’s usage by rewarding them with virtual rewards like badges or trophies that can often lead to real product prizes or discounts. This in turn drives customers to buy more products or utilize the product more frequently.

Some common techniques applied to gamification projects include:

·      acheivments / badges

·      levels

·      leader boards

·      progress bars

·      activity feeds

·      avatars

·      real-time feedback

·      virtual currency

·      gifting

·      challenges and quests

·      trophy case

·      embedding small mini games within other activities

We, at the Koala Cola Company, have decided to combine gamification with drinking colas. Our target audience is a group of customers of a younger age that have grown up with technology that has been integrated in their everyday lives. With our new app customers can now check in when they drink a cola and receive points for every new area of town. As they collect points, they will achieve new rewards that can be cashed in for Koala Cola products.

Gamification will leave or customers with a positive feeling of feeling accomplishment. It also will leave our company with increased brand recognition.

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Trend #1 :BYOD/BYOTech

As the leading government agency in Koala Land for Public Health it is important for us to be able to be respond quickly to public inquiries, as well as be able to be in the fields to work directly with our local health departments for training. But as or organization grows, more employees are in the need of these services and has become costly.  Blackberry cost for a growing number of employees has exceeded over $1,908,000 last year. The IT budget has been cut 15% for the next fiscal year and mobile demand looks to be up 25%.

The Kola Centers of Public Health has worked to secure efficient way of using expanding the use of mobile technology, while attempting to cut government spending. As, CTO, I have worked with an advisory group to create Eucalyptus Greenhouse Digital Government Strategy. Our recommendations are to implement a voluntary Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. This program should meet the urgent IT budget challenges. To encourage participation with this program, different incentives were offered to employees. One of the main incentives was increased telework days, which also coincide with the GoGreen efforts.

The BYOD service offering was established to allow secure access to KCPH email and the KCPH intranet from your Personally Owned Equipment (POE) using the Leaf Technology mobile application.

Key Features:

1. Encrypted connection to KCPHMail servers
2. Wireless synchronization
3. Access to up-to-date messages, attachments, calendar, and contacts
4. Secure Browser provides access to the KCPH intranet
5. Remote data wipe capability for Leaf Client data only
6. Password policy enforcement

There are some challenges that have been brought up by employees that we will need to revisit. Some employees are concerned that while the organization will be saving money, they will see increased data charges on their personal bills. Also the software client may be considered corporate data and not personal, so the employee may be forced to upgrade service agreement. We may consider having a flat rate stipend that will offset the cost. While this will still cost the organization money, it will be considerably less than having to pay for equipment and a full account.

KCPH has experienced positive saving with reductions in service plans and hardware maintenance.

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Strange Clouds....

All I do is dream big keep my head in the clouds...

The learning continues and I am excited as ever. We have start to learn about something that is fairly new over the past few years…Cloud Computing.

What is that??? Well glad you asked. Cloud computing means that instead of all the computer hardware and software you're using sitting on your desktop, you are able to use services provided by another company virtually. 

There are several products that many of use daily that utilize the cloud. Let me give you some examples to explain a little better.

Apple iCloud

One example for all of the Mac/iPhone users is the iCloud:

The iCloud is a virtual free 5GB of storage for all of you music, photos, app, calendars, and documents. It will allow you to syncs all your content from all your devices to iCloud servers and makes your content accessible from any of your devices like your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or PC.

Google Docs

Google Docs allows users to upload documents, spreadsheets and presentations to Google's data servers. Users can edit files using a Google application. Users can also publish documents so that other people can read them or even make edits.

We have been given a great introduction about this topic and I would like to keep learning about this topic and hopefully become proficient in it!!!

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Total Eclipse...Using Eclipse

So we are coming to an end to the 1st semester of my first year in the Master of Internet Technology Program at UGA. I love every part of it. This semester I took Data Management and Internet Technology.

In our Internet Technology class we have discussed a wide variety of topics. Business modeling was a topic that was totally new to me. We use the Book Business Model Generation as guide to learning about the Business Canvas and the different components that made up the canvas and how to apply them to the business of choice.

I really really really enjoyed the speakers that came to speak with our class. Chris Hanks spoke to us about entrepreneurship. I loved his outlook on the subject and helping us think outside of the box with fusing technology into the equation. Nathan Taitt, President of Eclipse Web Media, came to the class to discuss Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with us. This helped me fully understand how the process work first hand and how it really benefits the web site.

The latest thing we have been going over in class in Java Programming using Eclipse (I’m SURE you were wondering how my iPod got to Total ECLIPSE of the Heart) and Cloud Computing using Amazon Web Services (AWS). This has been an interesting side of programming for me. Learning hands on in the classroom is so beneficial to me. Dr. Piercy walked us through all the assignments to make sure that understood everything about the Java programming and the terminology we would be using. This has been the best classroom experience that I have had and I can WAIT to continue this journey!

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