Part 2 of  Confluence Of Big Data and Mobile – The Next Revolution by Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of GoodWorkLabs

Internet of Things

Mobile Big Data doesn’t always have to come from people, it also comes from background services and devices themselves that leave a trail of information capturing our every action. We call it Internet of Things (IoT). IoT has the ability to effectively ease the current big data projects. The IoT is a concept which explains how Internet will expand itself when the physical objects, like healthcare sensors, wristwatch displays, home entertainment systems, smart posters and many more, will be connected to the Internet.

(image courtesy)

As experts describe the IoT, actuators and sensors embedded in the physical objects – from racing cars to pacemakers, are linked through resourceful networks (both wired & wireless), often using the similar  IP (Internet Protocol), which power the Internet. When objects will start sensing the environment and communication, they will become valuable tools for understanding the complexity and responding to it hastily.

It’s predicted that The Internet of Things has the power to make the current big data projects look tiny and miniscule. Paul Bachteal, the senior director of the Americas technology practice for business intelligence vendor SAS, said that “billion is the new million” when IoT moves from a concept to reality.

Applications of Mobile Big Data in diverse industries  

Let’s take a look at some of the hot trends in a few industry sectors.

Retail

Big data has started to play a significant role in delivering insights into shopping behaviour of consumers and many smart retailers are introducing changes in their stores in order to deliver what the customers expect from them. Mobile Big Data has started giving retailers a factual and precise understanding of the buying patterns of different shoppers, how they move around in their stores, what they look out for and what attracts them. Social media inputs through location enabled services provide valuable data as well. Utilising this information, retailers can benefit more from their existing and potential customers while improving their bottom line.

To be concluded in Part 3.

We are doing a three part series of the chapter ‘Confluence of Big Data and Mobile–The Next Revolution’ by Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of GoodWorkLabs, that was published in the book: Understanding Big Data.

We are sure this would be a useful read for mobile and big data enthusiasts and for people who want to know what the fuss about big data is all about?

Part 1

The next decade is going to be the decade of data explosion. Even today, data and information have become the most significant aspects in every area of the global economy. Companies are continuously churning out burgeoning volumes of data pertaining to their customers, operations, processes and suppliers. All this data which is being getting collected worldwide is broadly termed as “Big Data”. What is driving Big Data? Will the confluence of mobile and big data trigger the next revolution? I would say Yes. Everything at this point in time directs us to take this conclusion. So, let’s talk a bit about the drivers and the impact of big data on mobile for different industries.

To begin, let us first define Big Data. Big Data refers to an unending accumulation of all types of data, whether structured or unstructured, whose confinement, storage, management and analysis is beyond the ability of any typical relational database. According to some experts, big data is data set that meets three attributes – Volume, Variety and Velocity. And of course the fourth V, Value. No one would bother to store and analyse data that cannot be valuable.

Big Data on Mobile OR Mobile Big Data

The mobile devices, especially since the launch of iPhone and now the Android platform, have become major contributors in the collection of Big Data, as these are used by people to practically do everything. Mobiles are tailor made devices for Big Data Innovation. Be it accessing social networking platforms, shopping, maps, read books, measure fitness, watch television shows or using it for traditional purposes of communication using voice, text and chat. To highlight this point, let’s consider the largest social network on earth—Facebook.  48% of Facebook users log in daily through mobile and 49% of Facebook’s revenues are coming from mobile ads. This mobile usage reveals significant information about the users and their behaviours in diverse scenarios. Imagine billions of people on mobile every single day, producing such humongous data that if we analyse it in a right way it would take humanity to the next level, like nothing else ever has. Because never before there was an opportunity presented to humanity to measure what we collectively do or like/dislike in our daily lives.

Drivers

So what are the drivers? Of course smartphone sales growth is a top reason and the smart phones themselves are becoming superior, and they pack a ton of computing power to do practically everything that a laptop could do and much more. According to the IDC reports, the amount of data created will grow by a factor of 44 from 2009 to 2020 and mobile and ‘Internet of Things’ will be at the forefront of this data generation. According to another IDC report that analyses the worldwide smartphone market for 2013–2017, it is believed that smartphone vendors will ship a total of 918.6 million smartphones in 2013. From there, shipment volumes will grow at a CAGR of 16.0% before reaching a total of 1.5 billion units shipped in 2017.

To emphasise this point, here’s a quote from Eric Schmidt, Google executive chairman, in 2010 about data explosion.

“Between the birth of the world and 2003, there were five exabytes of information created. We now create five exabytes every two days.”

If analysed effectively, this exponentially growing data and its collection through smartphones can provide significant insights on users, their behaviour, their sentiments and even their physical movement patterns. Companies can use Mobile Big Data analytics to develop better understanding about the users to optimise the services delivery and engagement tactics.

Mobile devices (which include smart phones, tablets and traditional mobile phones) are linked with Big Data in two different yet significant ways—“Sources”  for accumulation of Big Data and “Delivery Mechanisms” for Big Data.

How efficiently can we utilise real-time big data analytics and put it to practical use by making it action-oriented data? It can happen most effective on mobile. Analysing the data collected by mobile devices is important, however, Big Data practitioners must also leverage the mobile devices’ near-ubiquity in delivering relevant products and services to its users. Mobile devices can also serve as delivery mechanisms for Big Data analytics to cutting edge workers who need access to timely information in order to carry out different tasks.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) devices will also play a significant role as the data collection and reporting mechanisms for Big Data. This is what I term as the cross over between the Enterprise and the Consumer space, providing an impetus to Big Data that covers the intersection of these two sectors.

Continued in Part 2.

The book: Understanding Big Data was launched by Simplify360, a leading social business intelligence firm, and Big Data Tech Conclave 2013 that was held in Bangalore, India on 6th & 7th December 2013.  The book comprises of chapters from industry experts and research specialists on various topics on Big Data.

The book covers a chapter on ‘Confluence of Big Data and Mobile–The Next Revolution’ by Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of GoodWorkLabs.

Here is a snippet from the beginning of the chapter –

Confluence Of Big Data and Mobile – The Next Revolution

By Vishwas Mudagal, CEO, GoodWorkLabs

The next decade is going to be the decade of data explosion. Even today, data and information have become the most significant aspects in every area of the global economy. Companies are continuously churning out burgeoning volumes of data pertaining to their customers, operations, processes and suppliers. All this data which is being getting collected worldwide is broadly termed as “Big Data”. What is driving Big Data? Will the confluence of mobile and big data trigger the next revolution? I would say Yes. Everything at this point in time directs us to take this conclusion. So, let’s talk a bit about the drivers and the impact of big data on mobile for different industries.

To begin, let us first define Big Data. Big Data refers to an unending accumulation of all types of data, whether structured or unstructured, whose confinement, storage, management and analysis is beyond the ability of any typical relational database. According to some experts, big data is data set that meets three attributes – Volume, Variety and Velocity. And of course the fourth V, Value. No one would bother to store and analyse data that cannot be valuable.

Big Data on Mobile OR Mobile Big Data

The mobile devices, especially since the launch of iPhone and now the Android platform, have become major contributors in the collection of Big Data, as these are used by people to practically do everything. Mobiles are tailor made devices for Big Data Innovation. Be it accessing social networking platforms, shopping, maps, read books, measure fitness, watch television shows or using it for traditional purposes of communication using voice, text and chat. To highlight this point, let’s consider the largest social network on earth—Facebook.  48% of Facebook users log in daily through mobile and 49% of Facebook’s revenues are coming from mobile ads. This mobile usage reveals significant information about the users and their behaviours in diverse scenarios. Imagine billions of people on mobile every single day, producing such humongous data that if we analyse it in a right way it would take humanity to the next level, like nothing else ever has. Because never before there was an opportunity presented to humanity to measure what we collectively do or like/dislike in our daily lives.

Drivers

So what are the drivers? Of course smartphone sales growth is a top reason and the smart phones themselves are becoming superior, and they pack a ton of computing power to do practically everything that a laptop could do and much more. According to the IDC reports, the amount of data created will grow by a factor of 44 from 2009 to 2020 and mobile and ‘Internet of Things’ will be at the forefront of this data generation. According to another IDC report that analyses the worldwide smartphone market for 2013–2017, it is believed that smartphone vendors will ship a total of 918.6 million smartphones in 2013. From there, shipment volumes will grow at a CAGR of 16.0% before reaching a total of 1.5 billion units shipped in 2017.

To read the complete chapter and the rest of the chapters, you can order for the book. Contact us for a copy.

GoodWorkLabs is a top outsourced product development company that is providing cutting edge consulting, services and product development in the mobile big data space. We are helping companies push the limits in big data and we are witnessing a strong growth in this sector. For consultation on big data on mobile, contact us.

GoodWorkLabs, the leading Ruby on Rails development firm, is proud to be a sponsor of the 2014 Garden City RubyConf. The first edition of the Ruby Conference is organized by the Ruby Community of Bangalore. It will be held in Hotel Atria, Bangalore, on 3-4 January 2014. We are sure it will be a grand success and set a tone for more versions of Ruby events in Bangalore and India.

Vishwas Mudagal, CEO of GoodWorkLabs, has been a strong supporter of Ruby and Open Source communities in India. In his earlier stints, he had sponsored RubyConf India in 2010 and 2011, supported Global Rails Hackfests and was instrumental in pushing Rails development in India. GoodWorkLabs now continues this trend by supporting Ruby Community in India and making Bangalore a favorite global destination for Ruby programmers and Rails development.

The team at GoodWorkLabs helps companies of all sizes design, development and scale cutting-edge Ruby on Rails applications. We look forward to catching up with you during the RubyConf in Bangalore. Contact us now to book a meeting.

GoodWorkLabs adds Samsung, the largest electronics and mobile company, to its envious list of clients and partners! We are excited to work alongside the giant to bring out kickass solutions and products. Welcome Samsung!

Wearable computing is the next technology frontier. As more and more computing power gets packed in smaller and smaller devices, we are looking at a future where technology-augmented capabilities of humans will enable us to be far more productive and impactful. Check out views of Piyush Kumar, Product Management Consultant at GoodWorkLabs and a wannabe ‘Glasshole’.

Among the various wearable computing devices leading this revolution, Google Glass is undoubtedly one of the most discussed and closely observed one. While it remains to be seen how the world will react to the new levels of intrusion into people’s personal space that this device promises to bring, here are a few of my ideas about how Google Glass can and might become indispensable part of our lives in future.

Emergency Healthcare:

Google Glass is a wearable computing device, the key word here being wearable. This would mean that the device is in contact with our body at all times while active, and can potentially detect any sudden variation in our pulse rate, body temperature and other vital signs. Combining this with the device’s computational capabilities, we can imagine a scenario where the device can detect a sudden change in our metabolic activities, and send out alerts with the necessary details to our emergency contacts, preventing emergencies- especially for senior citizens and unattended individuals.

Personal Safety:

This idea came to me while travelling to work one day. As the bus approached my stop, a fellow passenger approached the bus conductor to collect his change which the conductor refused to give back saying he did not have any change to give him and asked to passenger to let it go as it was a small amount anyways. The passenger- presumably an IT professional (J) immediately took his smartphone out and threatened the Conductor that if he did not return the change, he would post his picture online. Immediately, the Conductor found change in his bag and gave it to the passenger!

In the light of this incident and the law and order situation in countries like India, where most of the cases of individual harassment are never proven for the lack of concrete evidence, a device like Google Glass can be hugely advantageous as it can be made to start immediately recording the incident as it takes place, as well as alert the necessary people and organizations with details about the individual, location and incident among others.

Inter-device Communication:

The Google Glass can be made to show the location of other active Google Glass devices in a given region along with live feed of a situation, enabling rescue teams to become more efficient in case of riots, building fires and other man-made disasters by helping in better allocation of rescue team resources, prioritizing operations and identifying shortest routes.

Online and Offline Shopping:

Shopping experience can take a whole new dimension with Google Glass, given the fact that the Google Glass can potentially contain all of a user’s identity information securely. This, combined with services like Google Wallet, can help users to simply walk into a store, scan the barcode on an item using the camera on the device and make payment through their Google Wallet and walk out of the store. Also, the location sensing services combined with Google Glass’s secure user identification can mean personalized deals and discounts in stores and restaurants nearby.

Socializing:

While one of the biggest gripes about Google Glass is the threat to people’s privacy it poses in social settings like sitting in a bar or walking down the street, the device brings some very interesting options for individuals trying to socialize- especially with other Google Glass users.

The Google Glass in a Google device which naturally means that it will have the capability to access the Google profile of the user- should they choose to make it available publicly. So, when a Google Glass user spots another user wearing a similar device, the devices can be used to access each other’s Google and other public profiles online and know about them even before they start a conversation. This feature can have the necessary privacy controls to give the owner of the profile complete control over who views their profile and what they see in it. The device can also allow users to connect with each other and share information the way it is done currently via other mobile devices like Smartphones, Tablets and Computers.

Essentially Making the Smartphones Redundant:

Along with the above mentioned ways, which is by no means a complete list, the Google Glass has the potential to make the smartphones and tablets redundant, or at least take over a large chunk of their utility. It can do so by easily replacing the Smartphone screens with the Google Glass screen and the touch-based input systems with Voice-based systems. Everything that a Smartphone or Tablet does today, can be potentially done through a device like the Google Glass, while keeping your hands free.

UX Advantages of Google Glass

The best experiences are the ones that are never had. What I mean by this statement is that the best experiences happen when we enjoy the experience and do not get caught in all the factors enabling that experience. If you are having a great moment and want to capture it, you should be able to capture it with minimum disruptions and should not have to spend effort in trying to find the right camera, get the settings and either lose the moment, or end up with a not-so-great picture.

This is one of the key advantages of a device like Google Glass. It works almost in the background with minimum interruptions, allowing you to have a far more immersive experience with your surroundings.

The Risk:

Though Robert Scoble got away with his famous “Glasshole” pic as shown below, an overstated love for the device might not be advisable for everyone!  🙂

Sencha Touch is a HTML5 mobile application framework. Built for enabling world-class user experiences, Sencha Touch is a framework that enables developers to build fast and efficient apps that work on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Kindle Fire, and more.

We see more and more companies using Sencha especially to develop quick prototypes and launching the apps on all platforms at once. One basic advantage is that Sencha cuts the development costs, because you need not invest on technology for iOS and Android separately. If time to market is of the essence, then Sencha may be a good option. But the performance cannot be compared with the native apps–Sencha apps do not have the coolness factor and responsiveness that a native app can give. However, it is still a great option depending on what your apps need to do.

Know more about Sencha framework here.