Platform Ecosystems In Big Data

I have written about the platform eco-system trend in technology recently. To recap, a business that has been gaining ground in the tech world is the technology platform developer network model, wherein large numbers of developers can use the platform to build their businesses cost-effectively without the handicap of huge infrastructure expenditure. Some of the better-known illustrations of this trend are Apple’s iOS, Salesforce.com’s Force.com and Google’s Android, which provide developers the necessary tools to build and release their apps rapidly.

This model is now seen in the Big Data and analytics segments as well.

One of the major platform players in the analytics space is SAP’s HANA development platform. SAP HANA is based on a columnar in-memory database that allows deep analysis while capturing fresh transactions in real time. Through its HANA Enterprise Cloud programs, it targets developers as eco-system partners.
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Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Adriaan Van Wyk, CEO of K2 (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What is the segmentation? When you are looking for customers, where are you looking?

Adriaan van Wyck: That is a very challenging question for us to answer right now. If you think about what I just said, it applies to almost every organization out there. It is a discipline we have to think about within our own organization. >>>

Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Adriaan Van Wyk, CEO of K2 (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Does that position you in the integration layer?

Adriaan van Wyck: It positions us in the layer right on top of the integration layer. If you think about the integration layer as being the concrete floors within a building, we are the hardwood floors that sit right on top of it. >>>

Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Adriaan Van Wyk, CEO of K2 (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: You said Kimberly-Clark has developed 400 applications in a year on top of your big data platform. Talk to us about what the platform consists of, what data sources they are drawing from and what the types of applications are.

Adriaan van Wyck: Let’s talk about the role we play within the concept of big data. It is a fairly significant space, and because it is so young and developing so quickly, there are different areas of specialty in there. >>>

Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Adriaan Van Wyk, CEO of K2 (Part 1)

Adriaan van Wyk is the chief executive officer of K2, a company that helps business customers make sense of big data analytics in order to make business decisions. The company started off in South Africa and through the years managed to create a global footprint with partners in Europe, the U.S., and Asia. In this interview Adriaan talks about the interesting journey of K2 towards becoming a global company and gives young entrepreneurs valuable advice on building up and running their own company – not only in the big data space, but in general.

Sramana Mitra: Adriaan, let’s start with some background about K2 as well as about you. >>>

Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Dr. Saed Syad, Chief Data Scientist at AdTheorent (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: You are saying that the number and complexity of input variables are going to go up, creating greater accuracy.

Saed Syad: Yes. If you have more variables, you have a chance to better understand the problem. But at the same time, traditional modeling can not support this type of change because of the amount of data and the speed at which this data is generated. It is not easy. It is about real-time predictive modeling. If somebody else wants to do something about this, they cannot use traditional modeling techniques. >>>

Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Dr. Saed Syad, Chief Data Scientist at AdTheorent (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: So your system sits in between the advertiser and the different publisher venues into which you are placing those ads?

Saed Syad: The publisher is on the other side. We are on the side of advertisers. >>>

Thought Leaders in Big Data: Interview with Dr. Saed Syad, Chief Data Scientist at AdTheorent (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: One common experience I find myself having often is that I go to a website that I use to keep track of theaters, for example. Then I buy tickets to a particular show. But there is some sort of a re-targeting algorithm that has picked up that I was interested in this show and it constantly shows me those ads everywhere I go. It is a complete waste of advertising dollars because I already bought the ticket. Can you comment on why we don’t have the input from actual transactions yet? >>>