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Showing posts from April, 2014

Location Based Services and RFID Help Hospitals Save Money

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The words location based services (LBS) immediately brings to mind mobile marketing apps and other location based sales and marketing services based upon GPS coordinates.  If we have an enterprise IT perspective we may think of fleet management, asset management and equipment tracking.  The technologies and strategies behind these technologies, however, are not limited to rugged outdoor, blue collar environments.  They have now also moved into sterile indoor environments.  Let's review a few of these use cases documented by Caleb Benedict , Research Analyst, GIS/IoT. The use of LBS (location based services) in the healthcare industry is growing rapidly. It is being used to save time, money, and reduce liabilities. Earlier this week an article was published by Pharmabiz.com that described how Tyco Security is providing Indian Hospitals with RFID services to track patients, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals ( http://bit.ly/PAIJvP ).  Along with knowing patient locations, thes

Insurance Industry Disrupted, The Quantified-Self - Wearables, Telematics, Code Halos and Digital Transformation

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By Peter Abatan , Studio Thirteen, Cognizant The New Finance Meet-up group is currently running a 6 part series over a period of 6 months to determine what could disrupt the Insurance industry. In the most recent meet-up the focus was on how the quantified-self could disrupt the insurance industry. I came away from the meet-up with the conclusion that smart insurers will begin to develop products that are more customizable to the individual needs rather than offering products desiged on demographics, i.e. where you live, your age group, family size etc. So what is the quantified-self ? The quantified-self is the data that has been accumulated on the individual’s behavior, health status, medical conditions and overall well-being by the individual themselves (We call this data Code Halos at Cognizant). In the future many experts believe that it will be the basis on which insurance products are sold to customers. There is still a lot of controversy around ownership of data and w

Real-Time GIS for Increased Visibility, Accountability and Productivity

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By Caleb Benedict , Research Analyst, GIS and IoT Companies are quickly finding new and innovative ways to recognize value by integrating real time mapping applications into their business processes. Real-time mapping is the GIS process of tracking changes on the earth’s surface and displaying that information on a computer screen. This process can include changes to company assets and resources (vehicles, cargo containers, people), and changes in physical terrain based on weather conditions, construction activity, etc.  Companies are increasingly using real-time GIS to improve workforce and project supervision, oversight and accountability. Examples can be seen in a variety of industries: When port security officials track the location of cargo containers, personnel, and ships as they travel through sea ports. When disaster relief officials track the movement of floodwaters  When insurance companies monitor impact areas from natural disasters allowing them to estimate mone

How The Healthcare Industry is Using GIS in 2014

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By Caleb Benedict , Research Analyst, GIS and IoT GIS technology is being used in the healthcare industry today for patient care and preventative medicine among other things. Hospitals and other organizations, with GIS and big data resources now have the ability to collect geographic information from their patients and study trends in illnesses based on where the patients live now and have lived in the past.  By displaying this information on a map it allows healthcare workers to visually see trends in illnesses and predict which communities will most likely to be impacted in the future.  In addition, understanding where patients have traveled over time enables healthcare officials to predict where ground zero for viruses might be located and how the diseases may have been spread. A recent GIS study conducted in China determined the next likely at-risk region for the H7N9 avian flu virus is located in a northern region of Vietnam. They were able to determine this information by

IoT Devices and Apps for both Industry and Consumers

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By Caleb Benedict , Research Analyst, GIS/IoT Recently Google acquired the home automation company Nest. Nest is a company that sells IoT (Internet of Things) enabled devices that allow homeowners to control the temperature of their homes through their smartphones, plus it sends notifications if it detects dangerous levels of smoke or carbon monoxide. This company is a great example of how IoT is expanding beyond its industrial roots. Why would Google get involved in home automation systems?  Because their real goal is to collect, analyze and utilize data to provide more personalized online and mobile experiences. Cognizant calls this strategy " Code Halos " strategies.  Nest will provide Google with a much deeper understanding of consumers' "patterns of life." In the next few years we will see widespread adoption of IoT technologies for consumers. This will include a range of applications such as smartphone controlled appliances, home irrigation sys

Digital and Innovation Expert Interview: Sean Middleton

Something new, this way comes!  Over the past couple of years, in increasing frequency, companies I am working with on digital and mobile strategies are asking advice on how to set-up an environment that encourages internal innovation.  Some have set-up innovation contests (think Someplace has Talent for those that can't sing), and others teach internal workshops.  Why bother?  Often the people closest to problems are those on the frontlines with innovative ideas, but no obvious path or budget to implement them.  These innovative ideas may be the right formulas for competitive advantages and success! With this subject in mind, I arranged to interview digital and innovation expert, Sean Middleton, COO of the EBA (Emerging Business Accelerators), at Cognizant.  He runs the EBA which is the venture arm of Cognizant.  A place where innovative ideas receive an audience, get peer reviewed, funded and matured.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltSXl84_z5U&list=UUG

Could Mobile Devices and the Internet have Prevented the Rwandan Genocide?

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This week marks the tragic 20-year anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.  On April 7, 1994, the Hutu majority, which was in power at the time, began an organized effort to wipe out the minority Tutsis living in Rwanda and other neighboring countries.  During an approximate 100-day period nearly 800,000 Tutsis and sympathizers were massacred, most by machete. The genocide was only stopped when an exiled Tutsi rebel group marched into Rwanda and overthrew the Hutu government.  No outside international forces intervened to stop this massacre.  The UN peacekeeping soldiers, lacking authorization to intervene and protect, stood by as the massacres happened within sight of their forces.  This was and is to this day a great international shame. In Boise, Idaho we have a fast growing Congolese and Rwandan population of refugees that were forever impacted by this event.  Many have spent the last 15 years living under plastic tarps on mud floors in refugee camps.  The tragedy of these events

Mobile Expert Interview: Dave Akka on Mobile Platform Strategies

I had the privilege today of interviewing mobility expert and Managing Director for Magic Software UK, Dave Akka.  In this interview we dig deep into mobile platform and mobile app development strategies.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwm5ig7ARc4&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw Read the article by Dave Akka, In Defense of Mobile Platforms for Enterprise Mobility . Code Halos (the data that surrounds people, organizations and objects) are important to us as individuals - most of us generate and share digital information every day. What's critical is that Code Halos are also vital to future business success. Research conducted by the Center for the Future of Work reveals that companies that understand how important this data is and how to find business meaning from it are best positioned to win their markets. My colleagues at Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work have just published a new book that is now available everywh

HTML5 and the Future of PhoneGap and WebView+

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By Peter Rogers , Principal Architect, Mobility, Cognizant HTML5 is still one of the most discussed topics amongst us technical types.  The key challenge, however, has remained unanswered for a long time. How do you effectively wrap HTML5 for use in native mobile applications? Unfortunately I do not have a universal answer, but I do have a solution for Android. Firstly, I recommend looking into the use of Vellamo in order to benchmark the performance of HTML5 on Android ( http://www.quicinc.com/vellamo/ ).  Vellamo is designed to be an accurate, easy to use suite of system-level benchmarks for devices based on Android 2.3 forward. Vellamo began as a mobile web benchmarking tool that today has expanded to include two primary chapters: the HTML5 chapter evaluates mobile web browser performance; and the Metal Chapter measures the CPU subsystem performance of mobile processors. I have my own custom architecture that extends RESS (Responsive Design + Server Side Components) called P-R

Increasing Productivity and Getting Strategic with Geospatial Information Systems

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By Caleb Benedict, Research Analyst, GIS/IoT Companies in many different industries are realizing applications of GIS (geospatial information systems) can provide competitive and strategic advantages, productivity increases and efficiencies in operations. GIS, when combined with mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops and other handheld devices allow organizations to use GPS sensors, digital maps and editing software in order to view, document and analyze all kinds of things in new and innovative ways. Once you represent your environment, location and processes digitally, you can build all kinds of analytics, algorithms and processes to take advantage of this data. Even in simple scenarios interesting analytics and processes can be done. Knowing the location of a mobile asset at a date and time is helpful.  If it is moving, knowing how fast it is going and estimating the time of arrival is useful.  Knowing where a mobile worker is located and their skills, qualificat

The Latest on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 for Enterprise Mobility and IoT

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By Guest Blogger and Cognizant Mobile Expert Peter Rogers A lot of attention lately has been given to Android and iOS, but let's not forget developments from Microsoft. Microsoft made some exciting announcements at Build 2014 that we should consider. The Windows 8.1 update was given an imminent release date (April 8th) and Windows Phone 8.1 Dev Preview Program is just starting. There was a nice quote reflecting their intentions with Windows Phone 8.1, “ We believe Windows Phone is the world's most personal smartphone ”.  Microsoft is bringing Windows Phone 8.1 to all Lumia devices running WP8  and the next generation of Lumia devices were shown with ridiculously good cameras and a Snapdragon 400/800 chip inside (1.2/2.2 GHz). Cortana is Microsoft’s version of Siri (with a husky voice), that is powered by Bing, and has been fully integrated into the phone experience. Windows Phone 8.1 also comes with an enterprise VPN and Internet Explorer 11. The desktop version of Intern

In Defense of Mobile Platforms - Guest Blogger David Akka

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In several past articles published here, the ever opinionated mobile expert Peter Roger's shared his belief that the age of traditional mobile platforms had passed.  In this article however, guest blogger and mobile expert David Akka shares a different opinion. *** Over the last six months I met with a wide range of customers and prospects in order to understand how they understand enterprise mobility, and especially to learn whether they see it as a business opportunity or just another piece of technology. It’s no secret that the past few years have seen a debate between two paradigms: whether to write specific code for different devices, or to take a wider approach. The rapid advances in mobile technology have led to a world where there is no single accepted approach, but history looks to be repeating itself from the desktop world, and I believe that application development platforms are the way forward. In general, the company I work for has two types of customer: ISVs, w

Notes on the Location Based Services Market

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By Caleb Benedict , Research Analyst, GIS/IoT, Netcentric Strategies IBM has recently invested $1.1 billion USD into Location Based Services (LBS) and Application Programming Interface (APIs).  The investment was in the development of BlueMix, a cloud-based service, that when combined with Pitney Bowes' API programs, allow businesses to collect data on consumers based on their location and geography. GPS enabled smartphones are introducing a whole new precision to LBS.  No longer are companies needing to triangulate between cellular towers to get a general location, when GPS data can identify the exact business location.  This enables location, business type, company name and more to be added to time and date.   Patterns of life can start to be recognized and marketing and promotional campaigns created based upon these findings. In addition to smartphones, the IoT (Internet of Things) enables equipment, supplies, materials, vehicles, trailers etc., to all b