Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Board's Role in Big Data Strategy

EY has issued a report dealing with the very timely issue of the Board of Directors' role in determining how their company should approach big data. What questions the Board should ask. What the risks and benefits might be.

Big Data analytics are all the rage in corporate strategy, from marketing to product development, product support, customer relations, and more. How the data are obtained and analyzed is critical to the objectives. It can be done in a way such that the benefits exceed the costs or it can be a tremendously expensive boondogle. Ultimately the Board will have to take some responsibility and the kinds of questions raised in this report are important to help the company head in the right direction. For the report go to the EY website here.

Monday, February 24, 2014

2014 XBRL International Conference

Governments and businesses worldwide are collecting more and more data in a structured format that makes it more usable, timely and actionable. Accelerating developments in standards-based reporting are opening up significant new opportunities for regulators, accounting professionals and financial market participants alike. These and other themes will be the focus of discussion at the XBRL International Conference to be held in Orlando on June 9 - 11, 2014. Check it out at http//conference.xbrl.org.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Security for the Internet of Things

Your toaster could be used by a hacker to burn down your house. Think about that.

As our home and business networks begin to expand to our toasters and overs, we need to give a thought to the security implications of the internet of things. Whenever new devices get added to a network, it brings in new security vulnerabilities. What kind and how serious they might be varies, and the point is they need to be evaluated.

The source of the vulnerabilities can be found in the nature of the technology being used, what kind of operating system software the devices have, how they communicate with other devices and the internet (Wifi, Bluetooth, etc.) and what, if any, security safeguards have been built in.

We're at an early stage and there are lots of questions that can't be answered. But the questions still need to be asked.

Here's a bit of a roadmap.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Big Data Helps us Define Cities

The analysis of big data continues to tell us more about ourselves. Location based data, which identifies the location of mobile users, is being used to examine various attributes about the population, including population densities, commuting patterns, growth patterns and mobility.

One of the outcomes of this research is to define the boundaries of existing cities, a classic problem of city planners. After all, the political boundaries are often almost arbitrarily determined, with the result of, for example, rural and urban dwellers having little in common being clustered together under one central urban government. The determination of the natural boundaries also helps city planners to evaluate the dynamics of proposed development schemes, by knowing where the city is likely to grow.

For more on the study of population using big data, check out these references:
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/523926/how-a-new-science-of-cities-is-emerging-from-mobile-phone-data-analysis/
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/524381/natural-cities-emerge-from-social-media-location-data/

Friday, February 07, 2014

Swipe and Sign Credit Cards to be Gone

The traditional swipe and sign credit cards are all but gone in most countries, including Canada, but in the US they still dominate. However, this is about to change, and the switch to pin-based credit cards is expected to lead to a significant reduction in credit card fraud.
Check this article on the subject.