Month: October 2013

There are few industries more straightforward, fundamentally, than trucking. You have a product and a destination, and you have to figure out the best way to get those two together. In an increasingly competitive economic landscape, however, this once-simple process could benefit from some complicated analysis. That's where custom web application development and big data could come in. 

A lot of companies already have business intelligence tools, which can effectively monitor past and present situations. The problem is, these sorts of tools are backwards-looking: They're very good at describing that a problem has already happened, but can't provide much predictive value. That's where large-scale data analysis comes in. 

Custom database models can be built to give past events greater forecasting value. Analytics can help determine the most fuel-efficient ways to travel, which in turn can give companies a better understanding of how fuel performance will affect their bottom line. Jeff Foster Trucking, a 225-truck carrier based in Superior, Wisconsin, is considering this variable heavily as it plans its purchase of 50 new trucks.

"In the purchasing world [0.1 to 0.2 miles per gallon] is a profound amount," says Dean Norrell, manager of operations and driver development in an interview to the Commercial Carrier Journal.

It can also help to map events. Knowing the likelihood of an outcome in a given situation could also prevent serious accidents. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, 456 truckers sustained fatal injuries on the job last year, the highest total of any single profession. While there is some danger inherent in any profession that involves driving, if companies can analyze patterns of when deadly accidents are most likely to happen, they can help to avoid them. 

Even for the most uncomplicated of tasks, the right application of big data principles can save time, money, and even lives. 

You might soon be able to help meteorologists as easily as you check your email. That’s the goal of the developers at OpenSignal, who have launched a new app called WeatherSignal that uses existing smartphone sensors to build a live map of atmospheric readings. The developers hope to use the application to eventually build custom database software that will be able to apply big data principles to weather forecasting.

There are some inherent drawbacks to using smartphones as weather sensors, however. People often keep their phones in their pockets, which obscures readings, and even the most advanced smartphones aren’t deliberately designed for meteorology. However, the first issue can be solved by using multiple sensor readings: The amount of light recorded can determine whether a phone is actually outside. The second issue can be alleviated through the power of big data.

One of the values of big data is that it allows imperfect data to be collected in large enough quantities to glean valuable insight. Smartphones are everywhere, and using them as weather sensors would mean millions of granular data points that could be used to derive correlative insight. Not only could such information be used to predict small shifts in daily weather, it could also help determine the probability of “outlier” weather events, such as hurricanes – knowledge that could save lives.

The next step is determining what role this massive amount of information can play when it comes to forecasting weather. The Birmingham University Climate Lab is working with the developers of WeatherSignal to determine the exact utility of this crowdsourced information. If successful, this would be a huge breakthrough for meteorology, and another example of the utility of custom database software.

While it may be lost in the hoopla that is big data, there is one very important element to the strategy that cannot be ignored: big data is going to change the way you do business. 

What do we mean by this? On the surface, it probably sounds like we're overstating the obvious. Of course big data is going to change the way business is done. It's going to allow decision makers to view and analyze information that was previously unavailable, providing companies with the ability to do things never thought possible. But there's far more to it than that. In short, big data is going to change everything about standard business operations.

That's the sentiment of a recent Forbes article titled "Why Big Data Matters." The article talks about the Bayesian inference, the act of making educated guesses and updating them after collecting new data that theoretically enhances the accuracy of these guesses. This was popular during World War II as it allowed soldiers to project the location of German subs, but it never caught on in the business world because there was simply not enough information for it to be practical. 

Instead, businesses mostly adopted the approach created by Ronald Fisher, which involves controlling every aspect of the prediction process. Essentially, it's a less effective method, but it was the best individuals could do with the limited information they have. However, given the growth of data volumes, that is changing dramatically. Because users have access to so much information, they can now trust that new data will consistently flow into their systems, allowing them to constantly update their projections. 

Greg Satell, the article's author, explained this in further detail.

"What you really need to know about big data is this:  [big data] represents a fundamental shift in how we do things," he wrote. "In effect, big data opens the door to a Bayesian approach to strategy where we no longer try to be 'right' based on controlled research and small samples, but rather become less wrong over time as real world information floods in."

The big data revolution is underway, but the only way your company can take advantage of it is if you have the right tools. A custom database software system made by FileMaker developers will allow you to embrace big data and change the way you do business for the better. 

No company wants to be behind the times or its competition when it comes to the latest technology. If other businesses hop on the bandwagon of innovative tools that customers flock to, those organizations are going to progress at a different rate than companies that sit back and wait. However, with so many "must have" devices and services hitting the market, which ones should business owners invest in?

A recent article from ZDNet attempted to answer this by looking at the top 2014 enterprise IT trends. While certain items, like the cloud and smart machines dominate the list, also near the top is software solutions. Whether it is mobile applications or HTML5, this is an area that cannot be ignored.

"Software defined everything," the article reads. "You've heard of software defined networking. And software defined data centers. Now get ready for software-defined everything. Vendors will beat this term to death because they are all trying to defend their turf while growing via adjacent markets. Here's the catch: Vendors aren't likely to support standards that in practice will take their core businesses away."

With more physical IT hardware options like servers going virtual, software appears to be on the verge of taking over. However, it is a system that can be complicated, especially for businesses that lack strong internal tech knowledge. By partnering with a software development firm, organizations receive a hand with custom application creation and ensure they have a solid foot in the future of business operations.