Monday, March 31, 2014

Mesh Networking - A Disruptive Technology?

A new chat facility - FireChat - makes use of a new feature in IOS7, Apple's new operating system, that enables phones to communicate directly without the use of cellular networks using Bluetooth or Wifi. To do so, they must be within range, which means for Bluetooth about 12 feet and for Wifi about 100 feet, depending on the strength of the network.

However, phones beyond range can connect using a technique called mesh networking, where phones can connect through a series of devices within range of each other. Such mesh networks could theoretically extend for very long distances.

Since cell phone charges can be quite expensive, some would say exorbitantly so, there is a good chance that if mesh networking works well, it will be popular. For those companies, it could be disruption to their comfortable lives - a true disruptive technology.

Check here for a story on FireChat.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Those Click-throughs Don't Mean Much

The metrics we use to measure the success of our websites are coming under attack. That's not entirely new. People have for some time have realized that the number of hits on a website is a misleading metric. A single person can generate dozens of hits in a few seconds and never read a word. Number of visits is less misleading, but nevertheless not a great indicator of whether the content was actually consumed.

Research is now showing that the situation is even worse than we thought. The average attention span of a visitor to a web page is 15 seconds. And the curve tends to bell out at the bottom.

Yet companies spend vast amounts of money on trying to make their websites interesting and attractive. They add in advertising that is designed to grab attention. One thing we know, banner ads don't work.  They aggravate. And people don't click through them to the content. There's even a name for it - banner blindness.

A recent trend in website design is being called the attention web. It focuses on new metrics that measure attention rather than clicks. On finding ways to get readers to actually consume the content. Less attention is being paid to attention grabbers - an apparent contradiction. And more attention is being paid to design, on developing quality content. These are healthy trends and should lead to better websites. For more on the attention web, check out this article.


Friday, March 07, 2014

Audit Committees Increasingly Uncomfortable About Cyber Threats

Audit committee members are becoming increasingly concerned by cyber threats but the quality of information they receive has declined over the last year, according to a new survey by KPMG
KPMG’s Audit Committee Institute survey of nearly 1500 audit committee members worldwide, including over 120 in the UK, found that cyber is one of the areas audit committees feel least comfortable about. 

Globally, 45% of respondents did not feel that their committee devoted enough agenda time to the issue. But this rose to nearly six in 10 (58%) in the UK.

Indeed, KPMG’s survey found that concern about cyber has doubled amongst UK audit committees in the last year. Whereas a year ago a quarter of UK respondents (24%) were not satisfied with the quality of information received about cyber risks, now nearly half (47%) believe that cyber information needs improvement.- See more at this website.

Wednesday, March 05, 2014

Volume, Velocity, Variety - The Hallmarks of Big Data

Analytics are needed to make use of big data. That's no news. But the importance of analytics can be fully appreciated when you consider its the beginning, not the aim of big data usefulness. Big data is characterized first by volume. Tremendous volume. That's usually the thing people think of first. It's also characterized by velocity, which is marked by real time. Much big data is real time data. High velocity calls for fast analysis. Finally there's variety. Some big data is structured and a lot is not. Classification is critical to further analysis.

So big data in itself is not particularly useful. The three - v attributes must be addressed first, and then the real use analysis can begin. For more, check it out.

Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Mobility in Global Markets

Going global is an old story. but there's a newer twist when it involves moving into the emerging markets of the world. In many of those markets, which of course are growing rapidly, there has been a classic lack of infrastructure, making transportation and communications difficult. This applies particularly in many of the growing countries of Africa, as well as larger more advanced countries like India. For any company interested in global markets, these countries are an essential part of their strategy.

One of the interesting characteristics of these countries is that they have essentially leapfrogged the traditional infrastructure development cycle, through the advent of wireless, mobile products like smartphones. While such linkages such as landline connections are relatively low in many areas of emerging countries, the numbers of mobile phones in use is large. For example, recent surveys by Pew Research reveal that only 23% of people in emerging countries have landline connections (and in some African countries it's as low as 1%), while over 90% on average have a mobile phone. That's a staggering finding, and one that is shaping the marketing strategies of global countries everywhere. For an interesting article on this subject, check it out here.