Data Crush

Data Crush, How the Information Tidal Wave Is Driving New Business Opportunities, by Christopher Surdak, Amacom 2014 

There’s data…. And then there’s data, not just the stunning statistics about how many devices and terabytes and zeta bytes of data are pulsing 24/7 into where you are…. where you work and shop…. and maybe even at home. 

·        Apple announced in 2012 that it had reached 25B downloads of apps from its app store… and that’s just Apple

·       The Internet of Things – according to Surdak, some analysts forecast that by 2020 things – in-auto sensors, home sensors, wearable computers, etc. – will be sending more messages to each other than to the users they support!

·       Social Media – the author states that social media – Twitter, Facebook, etc – has become the number one activity on the Internet, consuming over four trillion minutes of the populations time in 2014

·       Digital commerce has blown through all the initial consumer delays in adoption; by 2013 consumer purchases totaled $1.3Trillion on-line

·       On-line entertainment such as YouTube is proving that traditional media channels can’t keep up.  And what on-line media gains from its growing market shares is great consumer data into preferences and watching habits, to the degree of detail that allows targeted advertising and content development.

·       Cloud Computing – according to the author, many companies see their computing costs drop by 30% or more when they move to the Cloud

Surdak offers as his final section Five Scenarios for the year 2020 that present what the near future might look and feel like in the Data Crush.  These five little stories, not stretched too far out for the imagination – a trip to Las Vegas, a young woman’s New Year’s resolution to lose 25 pounds – all connect with a different way of spending and accumulating money, as well as crowdsourcing our goals, dialing in for education and self-help, and managing the genomic disease outlook for us and our kids. It all becomes incredibly easy, and we can feel the change moving under our feet.  The challenge becomes not so much the generation of data, or the management and analysis of intelligence, but the Choices.  Do you really want a few thousand of your on-line “friends” to follow every moment in your kid’s life?  And do you think having security protected health files accumulating with your providers – and your insurance companies – will not lead to some sort of more nefarious use?  Sometimes these questions come down to trust and experience – not what the CPUs or the sensors can give us, but those odd humanoid feelings we’ve developed over the years.                                         

Mill Girl Verdict:  Not too scary, comprehensive, with some very cool data usage numbers, a fun read.