Weekly Watson: Extending Watson in Multiple Areas
November 11, 2015
I read “IBM Takes Watson Deeper Into Business Computing Field.” I like that word “deeper.” It suggests that Watson is already in the business computing field and now like a fracker is going even farther down the corporate bore hole.
The article is an interview with Robert High, who is vice president and chief technology officer of the IBM Watson Group. I highlighted three statements in the write up as quotes to note. These are real keepers, gentle reader.
First, I highlighted this statement:
All those services are designed to basically get in and understand various aspects of the human condition in all the different forms that we use to express ourselves. We want to help businesses better understand the transformative effects that cognitive computing can have on their business outcomes.
Ah, the human condition. A query on Google for the phrase returns pointers to crime literature. I like the “transformative effects” angle as well. I think the blend of Big Blue and actualization an interesting way to explain smart software. Google doesn’t do philosophy; Google open sources its smart software libraries.
Second, I put a light blue stroke next to the paragraph revealing the existence of “Watson West.” At Watson West, there will be a “Blue Mix” garage. Very trendy. The idea is:
The intent is to expand our presence in Silicon Valley, with a focus specifically on cognitive computing. We want to foster more relationships in Silicon Valley among entrepreneurs and startups and investors. Our intent is to integrate into that community, leverage that community and extend that community for the value for our clients.
The final segment I noted with a firm blue exclamation mark is this answer to the question, “What is the greatest success story for Watson thus far?” Notice that the question wants one concrete case example. The response is memorable:
It’s in multiple areas.
Okay. Watson’s greatest success is in multiple areas. No revenues, no specifics, just generalizations. After 14 consecutive quarters of declining revenue, IBM identifies a single success as fuzziness.
Stephen E Arnold, November 11, 2015
Business Intelligence: Sort of Like Enterprise Search
November 11, 2015
I read a mini listicle called “3 reasons Business Intelligence Projects Fail and How to Avoid Them.” The article is 348 words in length. The article is “sponsored content,” which means an outfit called Sisense paid to get this listicle in front of folks like me. Well, maybe not exactly like me.
The problems of business intelligence are the same problems bedeviling those who would implement an enterprise search system or any system. The folks involved have to have time to set up and make the system work. The people using the system have to be trained. And the system will trigger hidden costs.
Great. No hidden costs.
I wondered what a Sisense did for a living. According to the Sisense Web site, the company “simplifies business intelligence for complex data.” The Web site asserts:
The only business intelligence software that lets you easily prepare and analyze both big and disparate datasets.
Here’s the description of the company:
Sisense is an award-winning, full-stack Business Intelligence and Analytics software that’s leading the way into a new era of BI. Our software is creating quite a buzz for its powerful technology as Sisense is the only fully-functional Business Intelligence tool that lets non-techies join multiple large data sets, build smart dashboards with great data visualizations, and share with thousands of users. Our secret sauce is the incredible technology behind Sisense that’s designed to be used by business users, without dependence on coding, IT or data scientists. Sisense provides a centralized database on standard hardware, and serves more queries, more users, and more data than any other BI tool on the market.
I like the word “incredible.” In my opinion, the mini listicle which tells me how to avoid the three reasons why business intelligence project fails seems a trifle fluffy.
Sigh. That makes sense.
Stephen E Arnold, November 11, 2015
Billing and Meetings Remain Easier Than Usable Digital Systems
November 11, 2015
I have bumped against digital initiatives in government and industry a number of times. The experience and understanding I gained were indispensible. Do you remember the “paperless office”? The person attributed with creating this nifty bit of jargon was, if memory serves me, Harvey Poppel. I worked with the fellow who coined this term. He also built a piano. He became an investment wizard.
Later I met a person deeply involved with reducing paperwork in the US government. The fellow, an authoritative individual, ran an advertising and marketing company in Manhattan. I recall that he was proud of his work on implementing strategies to reduce dead tree paper in the US government. I am not sure what happened to him or his initiative. I know that he went on to name a new basketball arena, selecting a word in use as the name of a popular vitamin pill.
Then a mutual acquaintance explained the efforts of an expert who wrote a book about Federal digitalization. I enjoyed his anecdotes. I was, at the time, working as an advisor to a government unit involved in digital activities, but the outfit ran on paper. Without paper, the Lotus Notes system could not be relied upon to make the emails and information about the project available. The fix? Print the stuff on paper. The idea was to go digital, but the information highway was built on laser printer paper.
I thought about these interactions when I read “A Decade into a Project to Digitize U.S. Immigration Forms, Just 1 is Online.” (If the link is dead, please, contact the dead tree publisher, not me.)
According the article:
Heaving under mountains of paperwork, the government has spent more than $1 billion trying to replace its antiquated approach to managing immigration with a system of digitized records, online applications and a full suite of nearly 100 electronic forms. A decade in, all that officials have to show for the effort is a single form that’s now available for online applications and a single type of fee that immigrants pay electronically. The 94 other forms can be filed only with paper.
I am not surprised. The article uses the word “mismanaged” to describe the process upon which the development wheels would turn.
The write up included a quote to note:
“You’re going on 11 years into this project, they only have one form, and we’re still a paper-based agency,’’ said Kenneth Palinkas, former president of the union that represents employees at the immigration agency. “It’s a huge albatross around our necks.”
What’s interesting is that those involved seem to be trying very hard to implement a process which puts data in a database, displays information online, and reduces the need for paper, the stuff from dead trees.
The article suggests that one vendor (IBM) was involved in the process:
IBM had as many as 500 people at one time working on the project. But the company and agency clashed. Agency officials, for their part, held IBM responsible for much of the subsequent failure, documents show.
The company’s initial approach proved especially controversial. Known as “Waterfall,” this approach involved developing the system in relatively long, cascading phases, resulting in a years-long wait for a final product. Current and former federal officials acknowledged in interviews that this method of carrying out IT projects was considered outdated by 2008.
Several observations are warranted, but these are unlikely to be particularly life affirming:
- The management process is usually not focused on delivering a functioning system. The management process is designed to permit billing and cause meetings. The actual work appears to be cut off from these administrative targets of having something to do and sending invoices for services rendered.
- Like other interesting government projects such as the upgrading of the IRS or the air traffic control system, figuring out what to do and how to do it are sufficiently complex that everyone involved dives into details, political considerations, and briefings. Nothing much comes from these activities, but they constitute “work” so day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year process becomes its own goal. The new system remains an abstraction.
- No one working on a government project, including government professionals and contractors, has responsibility to deliver a solution. Projects become a collection of fixes, which are often demonstrations of a small scale function. The idea that a comprehensive system will actually deliver a function results in software quite similar to the famous HealthCare.gov service.
I am tempted to mention other US government initiatives. I won’t. Shift to the United Kingdom. That country has been working on its National Health Service systems for many years. How similar have been the initiatives to improve usability, functionality, and various reductions. These have ranged from cost reduction to waiting time reduction. The project is not that different from US government efforts.
What’s the fix?
Let me point out that digitization, computerization, and other Latinate nominatives are fated to remain in a state of incompletion. How can one finish when when the process, not the result, is the single most important objective.
I heard that some units of Angela Merkel’s government are now using traditional typewriters. Ah, progress.
Stephen E Arnold, November 11, 2015
Amazon Punches Business Intelligence
November 11, 2015
Amazon already gave technology a punch when it launched AWS, but now it is releasing a business intelligence application that will change the face of business operations or so Amazon hopes. ZDNet describes Amazon’s newest endeavor in “AWS QuickSight Will Disrupt Business Intelligence, Analytics Markets.” The market is already saturated with business intelligence technology vendors, but Amazon’s new AWS QuickSight will cause another market upheaval.
“This month is no exception: Amazon crashed the party by announcing QuickSight, a new BI and analytics data management platform. BI pros will need to pay close attention, because this new platform is inexpensive, highly scalable, and has the potential to disrupt the BI vendor landscape. QuickSight is based on AWS’ cloud infrastructure, so it shares AWS characteristics like elasticity, abstracted complexity, and a pay-per-use consumption model.”
Another monkey wrench for business intelligence vendors is that AWS QuickSight’s prices are not only reasonable, but are borderline scandalous: standard for $9/month per user or enterprise edition for $18/month per user.
Keep in mind, however, that AWS QuickSight is the newest shiny object on the business intelligence market, so it will have out-of-the-box problems, long-term ramifications are unknown, and reliance on database models and schemas. Do not forget that most business intelligence solutions do not resolve all issues, including ease of use and comprehensiveness. It might be better to wait until all the bugs are worked out of the system, unless you do not mind being a guinea pig.
Whitney Grace, November 11, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
On the Prevalence of Open Source
November 11, 2015
Who would have thought, two decades ago, that open source code was going to dominate the software field? Vallified’s Philip O’Toole meditates on “The Strange Economics of Open-Source Software.” Though the industry gives so much away for free, it’s doing quite well for itself.
O’Toole notes that closed-source software is still in wide use, largely in banks’ embedded devices and underpinning services. Also, many organizations are still attached to their Microsoft and Oracle products. But the tide has been turning; he writes:
“The increasing dominance of open-source software seems particularly true with respect to infrastructure software. While security software has often been open-source through necessity — no-one would trust it otherwise — infrastructure is becoming the dominant category of open-source. Look at databases — MySQL, MongoDB, RethinkDB, CouchDB, InfluxDB (of which I am part of the development team), or cockroachdb. Is there anyone today that would even consider developing a new closed-source database? Or take search technology — elasticsearch, Solr, and bleve — all open-source. And Linux is so obvious, it is almost pointless to mention it. If you want to create a closed-source infrastructure solution, you better have an enormously compelling story, or be delivering it as part of a bigger package such as a software appliance.”
It has gotten to the point where developers may hesitate to work on a closed-source project because it will do nothing for their reputation. Where do the profits come from, you may ask? Why in the sale of services, of course. It’s all part of today’s cloud-based reality.
Cynthia Murrell, November 11, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Unicorns, Lots of Unicorns
November 10, 2015
One of my two or three readers sent me a link described as a “Unicorn Club wall graphic.” I located this diagram, the product of an outfit called CB Insights, at this link. Here’s a tiny version of the list of unicorns artfully arrayed on a time line spanning 36 months:
The message of the graphic is the blur created with the jammed names and logos of companies in the Jan 2015 and later portion of the chart. Here’s a snippet:
The number of unicorns has increased. On the list are MarkLogic, an XML centric data management outfit, and BuzzFeed, the maker of listicles.
I find this graphic interesting. Many of the companies on the graphic are ones about which I know zero and probably never will; for example, Thumbtack and some about which I know a little bit like MarkLogic.
A couple of thoughts crossed my mind as I marveled at the number of big bets made in 2015; here are three:
- Quite a few investors have bet big money on outfits because there is a belief that these companies will make big revenues. Hope springs eternal, of course. Customers and sustainable revenue may be a more limited resource.
- Is the economy more robust than the information available to me suggests?
- The likelihood of froth seems high. Are there empty store fronts in your area? Are most businesses thriving?
The diagram suggests that there will be some financial excitement ahead. The question is, “What type of excitement?” An XML data management company? Lists of factoids?
The business of some of these outfits is raising money, not generating sustainable organic revenues. Unicorns like raising money. The revenue part is not so much fun to do. Thinking about revenues is more enjoyable and easier.
Stephen E Arnold, November 10, 2015
Yahoo 2015: A Xoogler in the Drink, Calls in the MBAs for a Rescue
November 10, 2015
Years ago, when Google was a foundling, the myth of the brilliance of the Googler was fresh, new. Xooglers have had a good run. Work at the 24×7, wild and wonderful outfit for a few years. Then cash in and become an investment banker, an entrepreneur, or a senior manager.
Yahoo did the Xoogler thing. There was chatter years ago that the Yahoo was going to be a big deal in the exciting Internet world with mobile, smart software, semantics, apps, and original content.
How is that working out?
I read “Yahoo Hires McKinsey to Mull Reorg, as Mayer Demands Exec Pledge to Stay” to find out. Interesting analysis from a person in a good position to observe and gather information. Among the tidbits I jotted down were:
- The new swing for the fences initiative is Project Index. Index? That’s an exciting concept.
- Yahoo does not want to lose key staff. Who does?
- The top Xoogler hired the bluest of the blue chip consulting firms to help put some revenues on the books.
Okay, another big plan. Just like those at Google except and this is a classic “but for” construction—ad revenue. Google has it. Yahoo has less. A home run is unlikely to win the game in which Yahoo finds itself.
Losing staff? The fix is not to lock a professional down in my opinion. Working with a company is a choice. When folks decide not to work with an outfit, no contract will fix the free agent mentality of certain folks. The effort may cause people to bail out.
And the McKinsey thing? Blue chip consulting is a darned exciting type of work. Who is the client? The Xoogler? The Board of Directors? The stakeholders? Consider the answer, gentle reader. Blue chip consulting firms may not have all the answers, but the blue chip firms know how to set their agenda and then follow up.
What will McKinsey do? Preserve McKinsey. Yahoo may be in for some surprises because not even the smartest Xooglers in the world see opportunity quite the same way blue chip consulting firms do.
McKinsey did not hire Yahoo. Yahoo allegedly hired McKinsey. Who has the power now?
Stephen E Arnold, November 10, 2015
Google Uses Ninja Death Strike for Smart Software
November 10, 2015
I read “Google Tries an Android for Machine Learning, Releasing Open Source AI System.” The write up draws a parallel with Google’s Android strategy. The idea is to make something available in order to get developers and then eye balls.
I noted this paragraph:
The best explanatory quote comes from Greg Corrado, a senior researcher, in Google’s video on the system, embedded below: “There should really be one set of tools that researchers can use to try out their crazy ideas. And if those ideas work, they can move them directly into products without having to rewrite the code.”
The article mentions that the monopolists in hope and practice are into smart software. Smart software means 24×7 analytic type activity without humans. Better. Faster. Cheaper. More lucrative if one outfit sweeps up most of the activity. The goal is advertising and a reasonable chance at the type of market dominance that warmed the cockles of Andrew Carnegie’s heart.
There is one idea which caught my attention. The article and most of the others about this announcement did not mention the erstwhile leader of cognitive computing. IBM Watson is smart software, and it has a DNA anchored in open source, acquired technology, and the scripts of IBM researchers.
IBM Watson wants and needs its smart software to become a $1 billion business and pronto. Then IBM needs Watson to generate tens or hundreds of billions for the Big Blue stakeholders.
IBM is not an outfit with giving software away. I think that IBM will have to do a rethink and tap into Watson’s capabilities to find a tactic to get its smart software mojo back.
Did Google craft its open source play to blunt IBM? Nah. Google just wants to be Googley because being Alphabetty does not have the same cachet.
Does the Alphabet Google thing have a heart of gold and a weaponized open source strategy? Interesting question.
Stephen E Arnold, November 10, 2015
Drone and Balloon WiFi Coming to the Sky near You
November 10, 2015
Google and Facebook have put their differences aside to expand Internet access to four billion people. Technology Review explains in “Facebook;s Internet Drone Team Is Collaborating With Google’s Stratospheric Balloons Project” how both companies have filed documented with the US Federal Communications Commission to push international law to make it easier to have aircraft fly 12.5 miles or 20 kilometers above the Earth, placing it in the stratosphere.
Google has been working on balloons that float in the stratosphere that function as aerial cell towers and Facebook is designing drones the size of aircraft that are tethered to the ground that serve the same purpose. While the companies are working together, they will not state how. Both Google and Facebook are working on similar projects, but the aerial cell towers marks a joint effort where they putting aside their difference (for the most part) to improve information access.
“However, even if Google and Facebook work together, corporations alone cannot truly spread Internet access as widely as is needed to promote equitable access to education and other necessities, says Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at MIT’s Media Lab and founder of the One Laptop Per Child Project. ‘I think that connectivity will become a human right,’ said Negroponte, opening the session at which Facebook and Google’s Maguire and DeVaul spoke. Ensuring that everyone gets that right requires the Internet to be operated similar to public roads, and provided by governments, he said.”
Quality Internet access not only could curb poor education, but it could also improve daily living. People in developing countries would be able to browse information to remedy solutions and even combat traditional practices that do more harm than good.
Some of the biggest obstacles will be who will maintain the aerial cell towers and also if they will pose any sort of environmental danger.
Whitney Grace, November 10, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
CEM Platform Clarabridge 7 Supports Silo Elimination
November 10, 2015
The move to eliminate data silos in the corporation has gained another friend, we learn in Direct Marketing News’ piece, “Clarabridge Joins the Burn-Down-the-Silos Movement.” With their latest product release, the customer experience management firm hopes to speed their clients’ incorporation of business intelligence and feedback. The write-up announces:
“Clarabridge today released Clarabridge 7, joining the latest movement among marketing tech companies to speed actionability of data intelligence by burning down the corporate silos. The new release’s CX Studio promises to provide users a route to exploring the full customer journey in an intuitive manner. A new dashboard and authoring capability allows for “massive rollout,” in Clarabridge’s terms, across an entire enterprise.
“Also new are role-based dashboards that translate data in a manner relevant to specific roles, departments, and levels in an organization. The company claims that such personalization lets users take intelligence and feedback and put it immediately into action. CX Engagor expedites that by connecting business units directly with consumers in real time.”
We have to wonder whether this rush to “burn the silos” will mean that classified information will get out; details germane to a legal matter, for example, or health information or financial data. How can security be applied to an open sea of data?
Clarabridge has spent years developing its sentiment and text analytics technology, and asserts it is uniquely positioned to support enterprise-scale customer feedback initiatives. The company maintains offices in Barcelona, London, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington, DC. They also happen to be hiring as of this writing.
Cynthia Murrell, November 10, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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