The document discusses the accelerating pace of technological change and its implications. It notes that computing power is growing exponentially and will soon match human brain power. While some argue this will overload people, the author believes it will enhance human abilities. The document highlights how mobile devices like the iPad were adopted much faster than previous innovations. It concludes by predicting five emerging technologies that will be important for businesses in the coming year.
3. Contents
Introduction: The Pace of Change ................................................................................................... 03
Near Field Communications ............................................................................................................ 07
The Interface Revolution ................................................................................................................. 13
Open Digital Services: Open API Platforms Enabling Consumer-Driven Innovation ........................ 21
Marketing in the Age of Big Data ..................................................................................................... 26
The Cloud’s Influence On Enterprise Architecture ........................................................................... 35
Looking Ahead: Predictions from our Authors ................................................................................. 41
02
4. 5
The Pace of Change
Bob Lord, Chief Executive Officer (@rwlord)
Ray Velez, Chief Technology Officer (@rvelez)
In his book “The Singularity is Near,” Exponential Growth of Computing
inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts a Twentieth through the twenty first century
pace of technological change that will make
our recent strides feel glacial by comparison. 10 60
He sees cures for pollution and poverty, 10 55
10 50
aging and illness, even death. Physical
Calculations per Second per $1,000 10 45
products will be conjured out of thin air – 10 40
or, more accurately, out of very expensive 10 35
printers. The rise of nanotechnology will 10 30
All human Brains
10 25
bring together man and computer in a 10 20
way that “will enable us to transcend our 10 15 One human Brain
biological limitations and amplify our 10 10
One Mouse Brain
One Insect Brain
creativity.” By 2021, computer power will 10 5
1
be equal to that of the human brain, a 10 -5
state of affairs that will make Watson, the 10 -10
IBM-designed supercomputer that recently 1900
1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
2020 2040 2060 2080
2100
Year
trounced a couple of flesh-and-blood
brainiacs in a series of “Jeopardy!” matches, squeeze more information into our heads.
look like a Commodore 64. In the past it’s been said that most folks
only use 10% of our brain. Well, maybe we
Not everyone is embracing this trend. The can up that to 12% or 15%.
bandwagon of people who believe that
all this information is actually overloading Whether all of these predictions come true
us or rendering us Google-hooked know- by the dates assigned by folks like Kurzweil
nothings is getting crowded. We believe doesn’t matter. The point is that change is
that the opposite is true. Our brains have occurring at a more rapid rate than ever.
been getting faster and faster at processing Our position here at Razorfish is that we
images, an improvement that helps should simply ride the wave. As businesses,
03
5. 5
Brain Scanning some of the key trends that show how the
Image Reconstruction Time pace of change is quickening. The most
breathtaking is the lightning-fast adoption
1000
Logarithmic Plot of Apple’s tablet, compared even to the
100
other hot products developed by Steve Jobs
since 2001. Three months after launch, it’s
10
shipped over 14 million units. At a similar
Seconds
1
point in time, only about three million
0.1 iPhones were in circulation. But before
0.01 Apple had a chance to kick back and relax,
0.001
the Google-developed Android platform
basically took over the smartphone market
Year 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
in just 9 months. Think of all the amazing
computing power now available to be
we need to be continually innovating and stuffed into the back pocket of a pair of
adopting technologies to keep pace. It’s less jeans. We’ve already seen these devices
about science fiction than science fact. put mobile application development on the
map. That’s only the beginning.
Consider the mobile space. iPods grew
fast, iPhones even faster, and iPads left For the second year, Razorfish Technology’s
them in the dust. The former Morgan- Group has compiled a list of five
Stanley analyst Mary Meeker, speaking at technologies that will become crucial to
Google’s Thinkmobile conference, captured your business in the coming year. Our best
KP iPods Changed the Media Industry... iPhones Ramped Even
Faster... IPad Growth leaves its “Siblings” in the Dust
CB First 3 Quarters Cumulative Unit Shipments, iPod vs. iPhone vs. iPad
16,000 ................................................................................
iPad iPhone iPod
14,000 ................................................................................
Global Unit Shipments (1,000)
12,000 ................................................................................
10,000 ................................................................................
8,000 ................................................................................
6,000 ................................................................................
4,000 ................................................................................
2,000 ................................................................................
0
0 1 2 3
Quarters After Launch
04
6. KP Android has Hit Critical Mass
CB First 9 Quarters Cumulative Android Unit Shipments
80 ................................................................................
Global Cumulative Unit Shipments (MM)
Android Global Units Shipped
70 ................................................................................
60 ................................................................................
50 ................................................................................
40 ................................................................................
30 ................................................................................
20 ................................................................................
10 ................................................................................
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Quarters After Launch
strategic and creative minds have come intuitive, attractive and approachable. It
together to ensure holistic look at upcoming seems like the days are numbered for that
technologies, tying them to key business and dynamic duo of the mouse and keyboard.
marketing priorities. The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team
takes us through the new interfaces and
One of the most exciting areas of innovation their implications.
is around Near Field Communications, a set
of short-range wireless technologies that Two Razorfish technology leaders, Basel
facilitate the use of contactless payments. Salloum and Salim Hemdani, both group
Google has built the capability into its VPs, walk us through Open Digital ServicesSM.
Android OS with a production phone in ODS is about organizations opening up
December 2010. Apple is rumored to follow services in a way that makes them available
suit. NFC will usher in a whole new way of to any technology at any time, safely and
interacting with our devices and it’s not securely. Building on Open APIs, this is a
just for payment: think of the implications company’s best chance of keeping pace with
couponing, added-value information from changing business models and technologies.
merchants, and so forth. Paul Gelb, VP-mobile
and Heiko Schweickhardt, technology lead, In the new digital reality, the amount of
will give us an overview of what’s to come. consumer data available to organizations is
colossal. Ignoring it is just as big a missed
Interface change is going beyond tablets opportunity. With new cloud-based tools and
and touch in 2011 as the ways available to techniques we can finally make sense of the
interact with computers have gotten more trillions of rows of data to have better and
05
7. more targeted conversations with our clients.
Whether those conversations are through
display ads or on web sites, you need to make
sure you are listening to your customers with
data and analytics. Ray Velez, Razorfish CTO,
and Pradeep Ananthapadmanabhan, CTO
of Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi, pull together
some of the innovative technologies and
techniques we have used to help clients such
as Best Buy and others.
Lastly, as the cloud infrastructure has
become top of mind for most CIOs, it’s
important to understand how your business
and technology architectures change.
Technology directors Jibi Scaria and Mandhir
Gidda along with Ray Velez pull together
best practices from across the organization
learned from work we’ve done with clients
including O2 and Mercedes.
It should be clear by now that we’re not
going to tell you how to inject nanobots into
your customers’ bloodstreams. But we’d bet
that by the time you’re finished reading this
report you’re reeling a bit from the sheer
speed with which the business scene is
changing due to technologies like the ones
we’ve identified. We hope we provide some
guidance and, of course, we hope you enjoy.
06
8. 5
Near Field Communications
Paul Gelb, VP of Mobile
Heiko Schweickhardt, Technology Lead
In June 2007, a slide for everyone to learn the ins and outs
in a Razorfish client of the technology and what it means for
presentation painted a commerce, marketing and privacy. In the
bleak picture for near field hands of those companies, NFC yields
communications. “Today, a much broader opportunity than what
the NFC contactless mobile payment arises from the contact-free nature of
solution that is prevalent in Japan and mobile payments and a slice of merchants’
many emerging countries is not a viable transaction fees. Payments aside, NFC
solution in the U.S.” We found that the has the potential to ignite billions of
growth and impact of NFC had been stifled dollars of incremental revenue from
by the competitive situation already in mobile marketing services. This windfall
place, not by a lack of infrastructure to would finance countless transformative
support it. Because the market for credit applications of NFC technology. It is in this
and debit cards in the U.S. is saturated, context that the emergence of NFC in 2011
a new payments system would have to will be a watershed moment for mobile,
provide significantly more value to users and impacting every industry.
solution providers. NFC technology has been
available for years, but it has only attained This new data and integrated service
significant adoption in a few markets as a offering could generate billions if
contactless payment solution. So, given all not hundreds of billions of dollars in
that, near field communication (NFC) may incremental ad revenue. The increase in
seem to be an odd selection for this report. inventory would come from the number
of mobile users and the amount of time
What’s changed in four years? that they spend with their mobile phones.
There are over 5 billion mobile phones,
Apple, Google and Facebook. NFC figures which is over 4 times the number of TVs.
in the immediate plans of these uber- In fact there are more mobile phones
disruptors and that means it’s important than people with access to fresh drinking
07
9. 5
water. The penetration of smartphones, the system in which they match ad requests
devices marketers will predominantly be from advertisers with consumer profiles
able to target, is growing exponentially. The that reside in a database that they control.
device is always with the consumer, creating According to the patent request description,
the possibility for it to trigger a targeted an advertiser, using the dynamically-priced
ad on nearby digital signage or any other system, may pay a unique price for an
digital consumer touch point. Last, and advertisement based on an assessment of
most importantly, the additional data would characteristics unique to the target recipient.
increase ad effectiveness and efficiency
by allowing marketers to target the most A great deal of NFC’s value is in its ability
valuable consumers with the most effective to replicate ancillary value streams from
ad content at the time they would be most credit and debit cards. For example, the
receptive to the message. aggregated data from each user’s purchase
behavior creates purchase histories that are
NFC’s advertising potential is what is of the integrated into data from various sources
most interest to new NFC market entrants by credit report firms to create robust
such as Google, Microsoft, Apple and consumer profiles. These profiles are used
Facebook. In fact, Apple has submitted a to create highly targeted lists of consumer
patent for a dynamically priced advertising sales leads that can be sold at high prices to
Apple´s Dynamically - Priced Advertising System
www.patentlyapple.com
Patently Apple
110
112 112 112
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement
110
114
Infrastructure Owner/Manager
116 116 116
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement
124 126
Target Advertisement(s) Marketing Factors
118 118 118
Bill Bill Bill
Target User 122
Infrastructure Owner/Manager
114
08
10. direct marketers. The list of consumers can pattern will allow marketers to reach a whole
be targeted by geography, demographics, new level of analysis and optimization of
behavior (lifestyle activities like golf or marketing programs.
gardening), methods (preference for online
purchasing vs. mail order) and life stage
events (new parents or new home owners). Privacy
Some banks and credit card companies
have even sold highly targeted ad space on Most readers by now have likely started
account statements directly to marketers. to think, if not scream out loud, about
privacy issues. A comparison to other similar
This value stream provides an opportunity products and user behavior patterns shows
for NFC to generate exponentially more that privacy concerns will not impede
value than credit or debit cards. NFC can mass market adoption rates. As previously
connect a consumer with the physical world discussed, credit and debit cards provide
in ways that generate an infinite number of numerous institutions with consumer data,
interactions or valuable profile data points. which includes more personal information
Consumer profiles could now include a user’s than any digital property currently collects.
current location, where they have been, who Adoption and usage of these cards
they have been in contact with, who is in their skyrocketed when loyalty point programs
social network, what media content (across emerged. Consumers clearly demonstrated
multiple channels) they have consumed and their willingness to relinquish the anonymity
even how much influence they have on other of cash as long as they were compensated.
consumers’ purchase decisions.
When Amazon provided product
NFC providers can also close the loop recommendations, based upon items the
between mobile marketing programs and user had viewed but not purchased, many
conversions. Evidence from NFC Pilots, posted were apprehensive. Consumers’ fears were
job descriptions and registered patents has assuaged when Amazon communicated
revealed the imminent release of several the value of those recommendations.
integrated mobile marketing and commerce Netflix and Pandora provide more extreme
solutions. These solutions would enable examples. Both companies are able to
one service provider to deliver targeted provide and communicate enough product
ads and promotions (coupons), integration value from information submitted by users
of consumer profiles with product/store that the average user is now submitting all
databases, promotion redemption, retailer kinds of data in the form of content ratings
support for enabling m-commerce at the POS and movie account queues. These examples
and consumer NFC contactless payment. The clearly prove that privacy issues are
ability to see a consumer’s full behavioral removed when a company communicates
09
11. the value the user will get from data NFC touchpoints for consumers. Potential
collection, there is transparency around the interactions with touch points include virtual
data collection and/or the user is given a check-ins to participate in loyalty programs,
choice to opt in. special offerings and related product
recommendations or virtual concierge
NFC providers could follow these tactics by services like indoor augmented reality
having a personal information and loyalty and floor plans. All these services can be
program management application for mobile consumed with an intuitive wave gesture.
devices. Users would be able to opt in to a Touch points like these will likely drive more
collection of their personal information and consumers back into retail stores, providing
select what bits could be used for ad targeting. them a richer, hands-on experience throught
In exchange for opting in, users would be the integration of services.
compensated by mobile wallet dollars.
These rewards dollars would be based on
events in which their information was shared Security
with advertisers and could be redeemed
during any m-commerce / NFC transaction. Security will likely be a greater challenge
These virtual dollars could be financed by than privacy for NFC. The high value of
a nominal percentage of the incremental access to a person’s financial assets and
revenue generated from ads that leverage the personal data will increase the risk of
consumer’s information for targeting. potential threats. Several NFC providers are
planning to offer remote deactivation of
the NFC functionality and deletion of profile
User Experience information. Another security protection
will be a biometric sensor that can read
Consumers would benefit from a highly fingerprints or other anatomical features.
improved user experience with NFC as Once again the revenue potential of this
well. While contactless payments can be opportunity will allow market leaders in the
technically achieved in different ways, the space to invest in and constantly improve
ease and swiftness of waving a mobile security protections. While NFC may never
phone in front of a retail register is far more be completely secure , there should be
likely to be understood and embraced than the same level of protection as personal
is a process where you have to scan visual information data bases and financial services
codes with an embedded camera app. companies offer on other digital channels.
Ultimately, we have witnessed significant
However, again extending our focus database breaches over the last few years,
beyond payment reveals a value that can but there has been a negligible effect on
be significantly increased by providing consumer adoption.
10
12. The last hurdle for mass implementation of NFC chips, is currently offering businesses
NFC is the cost of producing and distributing in pilot cities free NFC receiver hardware
hardware to stores that are capable of when they participate in ongoing tests. Even
receiving payments from consumers’ governments have begun to invest in the
mobile devices. NFC providers and public technology. The French government has
institutions have already demonstrated spearheaded the purchase and distribution
their willingness to absorb all or at least a of thousands of receivers for businesses in
portion of this cost. This is especially true 13 cities that are participating in one of the
when mobile devices are leveraged as largest NFC pilot testing programs ever. As
the receiver hardware. Google is said to well, public transportation authorities in
be poised to distribute as many as eight several U.S. cities have begun to invest in
million “custom mobile devices” to small testing and implantation of NFC payment
businesses around the U.S. Apple has pilots receivers for rider mobile payments.
with several retailers, that includes IOS
devices with preloaded m-payment receiver The large number of players investing in
accessories, dedicated customer support NFC is evidence that the costs of addressing
agents, expedited dispute resolution, challenges presented by privacy concerns,
invitations to VIP events and merchant security threats and receiver hardware costs
rewards. Bling Nation, an NFC start up are not prohibitive to the NFC business
that leverages stickers with embedded model. However, to maximize ROI and
Communication Between Controlling & Controllable Devices
www.patentlyapple.com
Patently Apple
90 94
Controllable Device
32 24 25
WAN Wired 1/0 IR Interface
34 24 30
NFC Interface PAN LAN 106 110
102 104
96 98 100 114 116
Internet Web Service
34 28
108 112
30
NFC Interface PAN LAN
32 24 25
WAN Wired 1/0 IR Interface
92
Controlling Device
11
13. profit margins, potential NFC providers for companies that have looked beyond
are investing in the development of non- mobile payments to uncover its untapped
payment NFC applications for users. These potential. What will make NFC’s emergence
utility and entertainment applications in 2011 even more exciting are the potential
will provide non-monetary benefits to revelations from innovative companies that
consumers and generate additional value are able to take the next step. Applications
in creating consumer profile data. These and device accessories have exploded
innovative NFC products could be offered alongside the recent rapid growth of smart
as part of the compensation for opting into phones and tablets. When we look beyond
data collection. NFC entirely, what new opportunistic
industries will be revealed?
For example, Apple has already patented
an NFC application that could align with
this strategy. The patent describes mobile
devices that leverage NFC as becoming
universal remotes capable of controlling any
other NFC device, including TVs, DVRs, DVD
players, gaming consoles and even garage/
doors. Data generated from this application
of NFC technology would include what
content and commercials a user had seen
across multiple media channels.
NFC powered remotes are just the tip of the
iceberg. Numerous executions have been
patented, prototyped and/or piloted. Social
applications will enable users to share music,
videos, contact information, a social network
connection request or even an app. Travel
applications will create virtual room keys, ID
and ticket submissions and baggage check
in. The list of potential functions is only
limited by the creativity of the developers.
NFC, a technology that is not new or
particularly sexy, will open up nearly
unprecedented opportunities for ad revenue
and ground-breaking consumer experiences
12
14. 5
The Interface Revolution
Luke Hamilton, Creative and Experience Lead
Contributors
Jonathan Hull, Group Director
Steve Dawson, Technology Lead
James Ashley, Technical Architect
Crystal Surrency, Strategy Analyst
The Mouse, as We Knew It, is Dead iPad), game consoles like Microsoft Kinect,
Nintendo Wii, and Playstation Move,
Once revolutionary, the 25-year dominance advanced TVs with built-in cameras and
of the mouse and keyboard as the microphones, and touch-enabled monitors,
main interface for communicating with all remove mouse and keyboard mediators.
computers is nearing the end of its lifecycle. As a result, consumers have begun a mass
The mouse, after all, is merely a pointing migration away from GUI experiences
device we awkwardly use as a substitute for toward interactive interfaces that are closer
the finger. We click a button when we mean to the natural human experience, also
to point; we slide a mouse across the table known as natural human interfaces (NUI).
when we mean to swipe; we bang away
at a keyboard when we mean to simply Consumers are responding to this
speak. These mediated input methods are revolution by purchasing devices driving
behaviors we have learned because the NUI experiences in record numbers. Brands
technology, up until now, has not been must be prepared to adapt to the demand
available to allow us to do what comes most by providing experiences that leverage
naturally to us - touch, speak and gesture. these interaction metaphors across
multiple devices.
The mouse and keyboard as input devices
will still have their place for some time to By observing the tablet as one of the
come –driving graphical user interfaces outcomes of the interface revolution, we see
(GUI) that are relegated to more precision how content, natural interfaces, and form
and data-oriented niche tasks. However, factors shape the technology of the future.
smartphones, tablets (mainly the Apple
13
15. 5
Rise of the Tablets 3.3 million iPads sold in three
months
Think of the tablet computing concept this Compare the numbers of days it took these devices to
way: it’s an idealized vision of a digital book, reach 1 mln units sold
an object that shares the size, weight, and
feel of a book or a clipboard but does so 360+
much more. Early tablet devices consisted
of laptop computers with convertible 300+
screens on a hinge. These devices allowed
for traditional interaction – keyboard and
trackpad or stylus – when in tablet mode. 180
The operating system used on these devices
was often a tablet-friendly version of a
standard OS and not optimized for more 74
natural human interaction. 13 15 28
In the years following the release of the first
ii
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od
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ry
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tablets over two decades ago, the device o
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had failed to find mass adoption until April
N
N
3, 2010, when Apple released the iPad. Like
nothing before, the sleek gadget popularized companies such as Intel, ARM, nVidia and
a new tablet computing slate form factor: Qualcomm. However, it’s not just the
no keyboard, touch-only interaction and a hardware that defines tablets. That job is
new gesture-based operating system. The done by the instant-on, lightweight form
combination of the hardware, software and factor coupled with the robust gesture-
the established Apple eco-system helped based interface that simplifies experiences.
create a neo-tablet experience which The intuitive discovery of richer content has
captured the heart of consumers. been the catalyst that brought neo-tablet
computing to the masses and created the
Nine months later, 15.7M tablets have fourth largest consumer electronics channel
been sold globally. At CES 2011, a wave overnight.
of over 100 neo-tablets was announced.
Not surprisingly, today’s tablets represent
a multitude of fragmented form factors, Computing Without Tears
resolutions, and features. From a hardware
perspective, tablets are getting thinner, The various interfaces employed in the
lighter and more powerful thanks to tablet category for personal computing
innovation around chip technology from did not exist in the mind of the average
14
16. Exhibit 1 Print and Video Benefit from the
The iPad could potentially become the 4th largest iPad´s Larger Screen
CE category next year
Content Regularly Accessed 53% 51%
$30.0
44%
39% 41%
$25.0 U.S. CE Catagory Sales ($B) 33% 32%
25% 21% 22%
$20.0 13%
11% 12%
8%
$15.0
Book TV show Movie Magazines Radio News Music
$10.0
iPad iPhone
$5.0
$0.0
hands, or no hands. Because of the larger
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es
e
as
Cs
s
TV
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er
ar
on
on
er
sP
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ay
dw
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screen size users have more robust ways to
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M
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interact and explore larger amounts of content.
am
D
G
consumer less than a year ago. But the iPad Speed: Responsive, fast-loading, simple and
has transformed the computer electronics intuitive apps are winning over users.
industry and the way users expect to
interact with digital content. In doing so, Intuitive: Tablets have opened up a new
Apple has created sustained demand for a way of thinking about how we interact with
product that no one knew they wanted until computing devices using inutitive gesture-
it was released. based interactions through metaphors that
draw from real-world experiences.
But in addition to adding to Apple’s ever
expanding bottom line, tablet devices are Sized to share: The shape, weight and
changing the user’s expectations of what touchscreen interface enables multi-user,
computing means in a number of ways. They simultaneous or sequential experiences
are not laptops, nor are they mobile devices while sitting or standing.
(who is really going to walk around with a
tablet in their pocket?); so what makes them Curated Computing: Tablets excel at
so unique? delivering more relevant and less complex
experiences – consider how its personalized
Size: The iPad is smaller than a laptop, but media consumption has been a boon to
larger than a pocket-sized phone. Plus, the casual games like Angry Birds. The devices
interface can adapt to the device orientation also allow for light productivity experiences
allowing users to hold it with one hand, two like document editing and email.
15
17. It just works: The interface and the device One Size Does Not Fit All
operate together in a way that consumers
can easily learn and master. The tablet is With projections of global sales reaching
closer to an appliance than a computer; +100 million units by 2012 and the plethora
users expect it to work like a TV. When it’s of choices in form factors and operating
on, it’s on. Additionally, you simply tap the systems, the neo-tablet signifies the
screen to do something. next generation in end-user computing.
However, one of the driving forces for
“The fact that you can’t do everything with creating multi-purpose tablets is the ability
a [tablet] like you can with other PCs - is to create and consume content on the same
exactly what makes it successful” - Forrester, device. After all, the content that’s available
May 2010 on the tablet is critical to the experience,
whether it’s user-generated or not.
Clearly, the tablet’s user-friendly touch
interface, convenience, portability and high In these early days, the iPad commands
degree of usability signifies the beginning of 85% of the tablet marketshare, despite the
the end for a computing experience that had fact that it is often disparagingly viewed as
become almost painful for consumers. With a device suitable for content consumption
the release of the iPad and forthcoming rather than content creation.
devices from other manufacturers, like the
Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola Xoom, It can perform some light productivity tasks
the tablet device has finally fulfilled the such as email or word processing, but the
promise of delivering a truly transformative on-screen keyboard is not optimal for data
computing experience. entry or programming. Additionally, the
iPad owners spend a longer amount of time with their content
Weekday Length of Time per Weekday Length of Time per
Session by Category - iPad Session by Category - iPhone
78%
49%
44%
40% 40% 37%
34% 35% 32%
31% 32% 27%33% 24% 31% 29%
25% 31% 28%
25% 22% 24% 30% 27% 22% 25% 22% 24%
20% 19% 18%
18% 22% 16% 15% 15%
16% 7% 9%9% 8% 10% 10% 14% 11% 9% 8% 4%
7%
2% 5% 5% 3% 3% 5%9% 3% 7%
2%1%
Movie TV Book Magazines Music News Movie TV Book Magazines Music News
Less than 15 minutes 16-30 minutes 31-60 minutes 1-2 hours More than 2 hours
16
18. touchscreen interface is not ideal for editing by enabling consumers’ ability to research
photos or creating commercial content. It is, products from anytime, anywhere, and
however, great for surfing the web, flicking increasingly in-store, tablet devices are
through photos and bringing previously becoming not only a research platform, but
static experiences to life by connecting your a commerce platform.
digital appliances together. For example,
Disney has created a new platform that Traffic is up 77% and growth continues.
leverages your Blu-ray player, wifi and tablet This is not only attributed to the ease of
to create a second screen experience which use (simple, intutive interface), form factor
unlocks content that allows you to control and (much better ability to view content vs
interact with your movies like never before. mobile) and convenience (portability is great
And while smartphones are making a huge when in bed or relaxing on the couch), but
impact on pre-purchase research behavior consumers are using their devices during
iPad: Is this a device for a weekend?
Web browsing activity of iPad users grows significantly on Saturdays and Sundays
Sunday, Black Friday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday,
Nov, 19th Nov, 26th Dec, 19th Dec, 26th Jan, 2nd
77%
Nov 17 Nov 25 Dec 3 Dec 11 Dec 19 Dec 27 Jan 4 Jan 12 Jan 20
4/15 4/18 4/21 4/24 4/27 4/30 5/3 5/6 5/9 5/12 5/15 5/18 5/21 5/24 5/27 5/30
17
19. consumption hours when they are most • Simplify processes and tasks while
likely to make purchases (prime time has maintaining rich and powerful content.
always been the most expensive slot for “Maybe the new thing that everyone
a reason, and now users have a device to recognizes is the unit of economic value is
satisfy those sudden urges). the platform, not the device.” - Forrester,
As the devices unlock additional capabilities Feb. 2011
and flexibility, there will be more producivity
options for the average user. Some The rapid level of adoption has proven that
companies are already working to solve this, these devices are beyond a novelty and
providing peripherals that add keyboards, must be treated as a new channel that offers
while others are creating dual purpose new and unique opportunities to connect
tablet/netbooks still others are working on with consumers.
optimizing input and interaction methods like
stylus and speech support. There will also be
continued exploration of form factors and To Infinity and Beyond
experiences as the market matures. There
are some key considerations when it comes Tablet devices are a great example of the
to optimizing the end-user´s experiences: way consumers are responding to the
interface revolution, but there are many
• Design the experience for the particular more devices and platforms emerging in
method of interaction and for the screen the market that leverage the NUI paradigm.
real estate. This should include human input The technologies going beyond the touch
factors, like occlusion (obstructing the user’s experience are so sufficiently advanced they
view of the screen with a hand) and finger can feel like magic.
vs. thumb size.
Technology like Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect,
• Introduce simple interactions at the leverages cameras and infrared to recognize
beginning of an experience, more complex enough of your actions to enable full gesture
interactions later. recognition without needing a controller
or touching a screen. With the release and
• Make the path to gestural learning success of Xbox Kinect the gesture control
smooth, clear and direct so as to ensure that market is heating up.
users understand how to maximize their
own interactions. Much like the original iPhone brought
touch interaction into the mainstream by
• Consider the size, orientation and single or putting millions of devices in the hands of
multitouch capabilities of the device. consumers, Xbox Kinect will do the same
for gesture control. Imagine being able to
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20. virtually try on clothes from the comfort of Autonomos Labs, they are taking this literally.
your own home. Or order a pizza with a flick They have engineered an experience that allows
of the wrist while sitting on your couch. you to drive your car with your thoughts alone.
(George Lucas would be proud.)
Gesture control technology is not just for
the living room either. There is a growing All of these will continue to transform the
community of developers and designers interface and in turn transform all our
experimenting with these technologies in touchpoints, including in-venue retail,
retail and digital out-of-home experiences. desktop, tablet, mobile or out-of-home.
Gesture-based interaction is great when
touch isn’t practical. For instance, on a large
screen projected display it is difficult or Delight the Eye Without
physically impossible to control the entire Distracting the Mind
area using touch. For example, the Discovery
Channel recently created an out-of-home In dumping the old mouse-enabled
experience that allows users to participate interaction paradigm, the tablet and its
in the story as well as share the content with bretheren have opened up a new way of
their social networks. interacting with computing devices. Using
intuitive actions as metaphors that draw
It’s not just Xbox Kinect that’s getting in on from real-world experiences means that
the fun, there are people grabbing basic web touch, gestural and voice interfaces provide
cameras and creating algorithms to recognize additional opportunites to interact with
moods and emotion as well as gender and customers and potential customers in more
age. Toshiba has built basic face recognition personalized ways.
and tracking into its laptops. Mercedes-Benz
has a feature that detects drowsiness and What does this mean for your brand?
the warning icon is a cup of coffee. If you’ve
sat in any of the new cars hitting the market • Brands must first acknowledge that the
most of them have some kind of voice revolution in NUI means that there is no
control. And InnerScope Research has been “one size fits all” solution, and they will need
using a biometric sensor vest that measures to adapt and interact with consumers on
responses in heartbeat, skin conductivity multiple platforms or channels.
and perspiration, respiration and physical
motion. But wait there’s more. • Brands should not fixate on the devices
themselves but rather on how they can best
Some really exciting opportunities on the leverage the new interface capabilities to
bleeding edge are using mind control, yes mind enhance the user experience.
control, to drive experiences. In the case of a
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21. • Brands should weigh the pros and cons of before possible will usher in the next
native apps vs. device optimized web-based revolution, not just in computing, but in
experiences, as both are expected to take design and marketing.
advantage of cloud computing over the next
few years. In fact, Google, Microsoft and
Amazon are all betting on this as they invest
even more heavily in their respective cloud
infrastructures. Because tablets will have
less available storage space than the typical
PC or netbook, storage for tablet-based apps
is expected to take place in the cloud.
• Brands will need to offer deeper, more
interactive content. It’s not about a single
task but the customer journey. The
experiences need to evolve and adapt to the
consumers’ lifestyle and how they want to
consume or create content.
• Brands must recognize that ubiquitous,
portable content will enable a better
connection with consumers by being where
the consumer is, no matter what platform
they are using.
• Connected experiences weave brands
into the consumer’s life. However, ultra-
personalization is the key to making the
devices and content invaluable to consumers
and transforming them into brand advocates.
Brands that can successfully leverage
these new user environments by creating
personalized, natural user interfaces will
build stronger and more lasting relationships
with their existing customers and open
doors to potential new customers. Tapping
consumer buying power in ways never
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22. 5
Open Digital ServicesSM:
Open API Platforms Enabling
Consumer-Driven Innovation
Basel Salloum, Group VP, Technology
Salim Hemdani, Group VP, Experiences and Platforms
So after more than a few late nights, you’ve Now you’re probably thinking that it’s
gotten your branded iPad app out the door. easy for those companies to open up. They
It’s moving well, but it’s no, well, iPad. Your were built that way; it’s hardwired into
customers seem to like it well enough. A their culture. I don’t work at an Internet
few four star ratings, but there are many company. I sell physical items work at a
more three and two-star reviews. You can’t large company with a big bureaucracy. It’s
help wondering if it was worth the time, like comparing apples and oranges.
cost and energy; and if there’s a better way
to engage with your consumers, to cut to Wrong!
the heart of how they understand your
brand in a digital age where new devices For most brands, even the stodgiest among
and interfaces are invented on a daily basis. them, there is huge potential in Open API.
There is an enormous opportunity for true
There is a way, and it’s the path that allow innovation by connecting with consumers
companies like Facebook, Google, and and empowering them to transact with
Twitter to innovate so rapidly: Open APIs. your brand on their own terms. This is
All these companies have been built in no where an Open Digital Services (ODS)
small part by their user communities. It’s model is essential.
pretty clear by now that there’s no better
way to give your consumers the digital Once the brand/consumer connection
experiences they want and need than to let is established through an ODS platform,
them do the innovating themselves. empowering consumers to innovate opens
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23. 5
up endless possibilities. Best Buy, Amazon, public in a secure and scalable manner, using
eBay and Netflix have also embraced a modular or service oriented architecture
the idea of open platforms. They have (SOA) as the backbone of this platform (e.g.,
experimented with this new model for APIs or Web Services). It provides consumers
marketing their products and services at with a highly customizable mechanism
almost no cost. For instance, Best Buy´s for consuming content and executing
Open APIs – BBYOpen-- allows other brands transactions through a set of “digital services”
across the world to freely access product available for a wide audience such as
information, store details and reviews. So developers, publishers and advertisers. ODS
a developer can create an app that allows must be designed and built specifically to
a purchase from Best Buy to be performed your business, it is not a product that you can
right in the app itself. eBay made a similar acquire and customize, although there are
move, with respect to auctions. Netflix, middleware products that could complement
as another example, has incentivized its your platform architecture.
community by holding a competition to
build the next generation recommendation As a technology platform, a typical ODS
engine. These brands are tapping into the implementation has a set of public-facing
passion of the developer community to digital services that are inter-linked and
further enhance their marketing cause. integrated with your existing back-end
And, bear in mind, they’re all publicly-traded systems and/or third party systems. That
companies for whom there is a lot at stake in integration is managed through a middle-
these kinds of programs. tier “broker,” which could be a custom-
built engine or a middleware product
such as an enterprise service bus, which
What is ODS? is primarily responsible for security,
transaction integrity, entitlement and
At Razorfish we have been helping clients service deployment. This model promotes
build these sorts of programs since the many advantages around security, code
advent of the web. Back in 1999, we helped reusability, rapid application development,
MLB.com build its open video platform that ease of maintenance and much more. In
aggregated all content across the clubs. addition, your legacy systems are expensive
More recently we helped a large financial to maintain, modify or replace, and their
services company build open feeds around proprietary APIs should never be opened up
learning content. directly to the outside world.
In the simplest terms, Razorfish Open Digital
ServicesSM (ODS) is a platform that allows
you to expose your business services to the
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24. Advantages of ODS applications and ideas in the hands of your
most loyal advocates—your customers.
Lower cost and ease of integration:
Having an enterprise-wide ODS platform
will eliminate the need for direct integration ROI
with each back-end system every time an
application or a functionality needs to be Imagine what consumers will be able to
built. The separation of existing backend do if the automotive industry provided API
systems from consumers through an ODS access to Bill of Material (BOM) for every
platform, will lower development cost and single vehicle they ever built? What if the
increase the ease of integration. consumer goods industry provided API for
nutrition details of every edible product
Increased Flexibility and Agility: they market? What if technology companies
One of the key benefits of this platform is provided API to a set of unique and cutting
it allows companies and/or consumers to edge features of their latest R&D project?
transact in a dynamic and agile manner. What if financial services companies opened
Whether it’s consuming a content feed up access to product and services they
or executing a financial transaction, offer? What if insurance companies allow
marketers will have the ability to quickly API access to their claims data? Imagine
create experiences that pertain to their the possibilities. Consumers will create
consumers and provide a benefit to both meaningful and engaging experiences using
parties. Over time, these experiences can these APIs on their own terms. ODS can
be greatly enhanced from learning through facilitate and support the process of building
iterative development cycles of consumers. a community of brand evangelists with a
A framework for flexible experiences lifetime customer value that can beat the ROI
ultimately results in a happy customer. of any other campaign! Additional sales and
the introduction of new sources of revenue
Extensibility: can be recognized through channels that are
Extensibility is also a core principle and an re-using API, including suppliers, partners,
advantage when users are no longer limited etc. And brand evangelists are happy too.
to in-house and on-payroll developers
building applications. Suddenly the new
ideas landscape is virtually unlimited to all ADVICE
audiences; providing extensive variety of
media through many digital channels, all of Not every brand or organization is a
which revolve around the user´s needs and candidate for ODS. While in most cases ODS
behavior´s changes. Open Digital ServicesSM is a solution, you should first go through
puts the tools for innovation, new functions, an applicability and feasibility exercise to
23
25. validate whether or not it’s advantageous to conflict situation arises then consider creating
your business and consumers. Even if there two different services.
isn’t a strong business case for it, you’d be
amazed by the benefits that it can bring to 2. Loose Coupling of Services: It is inevitable
your consumers. that in some instances, service output will be
processed by the client in order to engage in
Once you do get the platform in place, rely further transactions with the platform. After
on the power of community to help you find the first service call from the client in a given
new methods of marketing and expanding transaction, it is possible that subsequent
your products and services. Some of the calls to other services may be highly
most powerful and most used mobile dependent on values returned in previous
applications are ones that were built by a calls. Despite this dependency scenario you
single developer who had access to an open must always keep all of your services self-
platform through an enterprise. contained and allow loose coupling that
will let the client (e.g., developer) manage
While ODS provides agility and flexibility the transaction integrity. Do not force the
and promotes innovation, it can be complex service coupling by making things mandatory
to create, not only from a technology or prescribing specific coupling mechanism.
standpoint, but also organizationally. This Each service should maintain awareness of
is why it’s crucial to adhere to the guiding other services offered but shall always be
principles listed below. Building a true ODS independent. It is tempting to force your
platform is more than putting together audience to the follow same procedures as
a bunch of web services and calling it a your business does and this temptation must
platform. Definitely prioritize which services be avoided to allow free thinking.
you want to open up, and create a SOA
based architecture utilizing a middleware 3. Industry Compliant Access Model:
engine such as an enterprise service bus. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is a
highly evolved discipline. SOA prescribes
various methods, models and guidelines
ODS Guiding Principles for authentication, authorization, service
contract, payload management, security
1. Self-Contained Services: Any service you and service orchestration for developing
wish to open up has to be self-contained. Every and deploying interoperable services. These
service shall have one and only one response industry standards shall be meticulously
type for all requests. Service response can be followed to avoid any one-off rules or
an array of an object type but service shall practices that are specific to your company
never respond with two different types of and utterly unnecessary.
objects irrespective of request parameters. If a
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26. 5
4. Start Small and Simple: Your business as turn to cloud computing to address their
it exists today has evolved over a period concerns about scalability, high availability,
of time. Your business model is no longer upfront hosting cost and time to market.
as easy as buying low and selling high, ODS will no longer be optional or a nice-
or introducing simple services with high to-have; it’s already becoming an industry
ROI. Over the years, one-off exceptions, best practice and a key standard for
internal processes, regulatory compliance, organizations. This revolution of connecting
promotions, discounts and a myriad of consumers with brands will create more
other things have shaped your business service providers specializing in open
rules. How can you open-up APIs without architecture platforms as an offering, and
considering these business rules? Yes, you it will push existing technology service
will get caught-up in these discussions when providers to revisit their capabilities around
identifying what products and services shall SOA based architecture and web services.
be made public. The solution is to follow the
rule: Keep it simple! Identify the minimum
set of self-contained services that you can
open and roll them out. Let your consumers
define what is next.
PREDICTION
Some organizations will trail behind and
some will not survive unless they create
an open digital platform based on service
or modular based architecture, and give
their consumers the ultimate flexibility
and agility. We’re going to see more
traditional organizations overcoming their
fear of certain standards around security
and scalability and join the Open Digital
Platforms movement. Financial Services
brands in particular have been reluctant,
although companies such as ETRADE*,
PayPal and MasterCard have embraced it.
The notion of “private data centers” and
“hardware procurement” is on the path
to becoming obsolete. Organizations will
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27. 5 5
Marketing in the Age of Big Data
Ray Velez, Chief Technology Officer
Pradeep Ananthapadmanabhan, Chief Technology Officer, VivaKi Nerve Center
Mark Taylor, Solutions Director, Global Solutions
When we talk about information overload, • Survey-based data available from the
we usually associate it with consumers Nielsens of the world
who, in the course of going about their
day, are smothered by thousands of bits of • Vast amounts of social data available
data, branded or otherwise. But these days through open APIs and connections to
marketers, too, can be overwhelmed by Facebook, Twitter and tools like Open
the sheer amount of data pouring in from Social
the billions of online interactions they have
with their customers on an annual basis. Historically, these data sets have been
Consider just this partial list of data sources: simply too large to allow any meaningful
data analysis and processing to take place.
• Clickstream data available from tools like Now we have new technologies to help us
Atlas and Doubleclick—who have cookied make sense of and use the data. With big
over 90% of the Internet data techniques, all of these touchpoints
become usable assets and present an
• Site or digital experience data that enormous opportunity for almost any
organizations track through logs and/or organization that wants to improve the
analytics tools like Omniture, Webtrends dialogue with its consumers. Technologies
and Google Analytics such as MapReduce, noSQL, and cloud-
based Massively Parallel Processing (MPP)
• Other channel data across various databases have pushed the limits of the
touchpoints (email, call center, mobile, etc.) amount of data that marketers can process
without having to blow their entire budgets.
• Client data
This has enabled us to not just manage
• Transactional data big data but to, simply, think big. We have
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28. progressed from a technology culture based What to do with all this data?
around constraints and managing known
parameters to an environment of innovation Here at Razorfish, we have been innovating
where we continue to explore the frontiers data-led marketing for years. Our DNA is
of what we can do. This changes marketing grounded in data innovation, including the
in a major way—not just in the technology creation of the ATLAS platform (a technology
organization, but across the whole spun out of Razorfish and acquired by
framework of how a company does business Microsoft) and any number of patented
with consumers. But this is no cakewalk. techniques that leverage advanced analytics
There is a major challenge in the form of against clickstream data. Now that we have
consumer privacy, which is shaping us a greater access to big data solutions, we’re
cultural issue as well as a legal one. With innovating faster.
the influx of data comes great responsibility
to respect customers’ information while In the past, the industry process has
working to give them and your clients the been very linear: marketers plan their
most efficient communications strategy campaign, buy ad space, run the ads and
possible. What follows is your guide to measure the results, often with weeks in
striking that balance. between each stage. Now, we test multiple
Each touchpoint is an identifiable interaction and an opportunity to
communicate to your customers intelligently at scale
>100M interactions
» Categories
» Content
SITE » Merchandising
~ 35+Million interactions >500M interactions
» Email
» Display
» Billing CUSTOMER » Paid search
» Mail
COMMS MEDIA » email
<5M interactions
» Facebook 1 ½M interactions
» YouTube » Site service
» LinkedIn
SOCIAL » Online service
SERVICE
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29. creative executions and media plans, among the growing crowd concerned with
and immediately tweak them to deliver privacy matters. Let’s back up and define
the best-performing ads and reach the targeting or, to use a more benign synonym,
optimal audiences, even as measurement personalization. At the highest level, it is
data starts to come in. To enable this, our using data that can be gathered from either
analytics approach has become advanced anonymous web users or from people who
and sophisticated enough to identify true are identifiable because they’re logged into
relationships across the data that will be a website. This process allows us to create
meaningful for consumers and profitable for consumer segments and those segments
clients. are used to create relevant experiences. For
example, if the data tells us that you are in
Amid the vast sets of data, it’s the tiny a particular segment and we know that that
subsets that have the most significant segment is interested in mountain bikes, we
impact on our customer interactions. We can show you mountain bike experiences
have already altered the way we design our instead of road bike ads. Think about it
analytics and data management solutions by this way—lots of data sources map into
initiating strong measurement and KPI [key segments, and segments drive experiences
performance indicator] strategies alongside and messages anywhere you can create
our technical solutions to drive our clients’ experiences where experiences are driven?
business goals.
In our experience, just about every display
These Razorfish-led innovations ensure ad is somewhat targeted and personalized.
sound business logic and measurement Have you ever noticed that when you start
techniques combine with our Business looking for a product, ads for that product
Intelligence to drive down latency to a start showing up more often? Combating the
near real-time basis, creating an almost low clickthrough rates challenge of display
immediate feedback loop. The renaissance ads, advertisers have used targeting data
in data-driven display ad planning and for years. However, it is far too rare that
measurement is just one example of big data this data and targeting information is used
in action. beyond display ads, and leveraged across
multiple channels, from websites, to mobile,
Targeting or Personalization to email, to social applications, and beyond.
Often times someone will click through
Targeting is one of those hot-button an ad to end up on a web experience, and
marketing terms that means different things all that wonderful information that was
to different people. Its vaguely threatening available in the ad never makes it to the
sound doesn’t hold – no one wants a desktop or mobile site, or even in-venue
bullseye on them after all – especially kiosk. That is the opportunity we have here.
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30. Privacy of communication. You wouldn’t ignore
the information from a conversation
Since data is so abundant, it’s critical with a customer in the store or on the
to ensure that all data practices follow phone, would you? And, quantitatively,
privacy laws that govern whether and how we can increase relevant and meaningful
personally identifiable information can be engagement time, increase conversation
used. Netflix learned during a contest it and increase referrals—all of these metrics
created so its community could develop a leading to increasing revenue. It takes a
new recommendation engine that even with focused effort and time to correlate metrics,
large, highly anonymized data sets it is still but you are creating a framework that
possible to identify a unique user. That is enables understanding of the impact of
probably the best way to think of personally the targeting updates. Inevitably some will
identifiable information: date that can increase and some will decrease.
identify a unique person when it is captured.
If that person has opted in, you can store Our clients have seen huge benefits within
you the data. If there was no opt-in, you’re single channels like display where near
out of luck. Most wide-scale segment real-time marketing decisions generate
data providers, like ad servers or firms like increase in relevancy and conversion. The
Nielsen, enable the capturing and sharing of next phase of benefit realization is being
anonymous data in a way that is consistent seen in cross-channel intelligence combined
with U.S. legal and general consumer with targeting across multiple touchpoints.
guidelines. Often times this is enabled with This provides an incremental return-on-
anonymous user cookies. However, it is insight that is in turn leveraged to drive
important to note that Europe is looking greater relevancy, while improving delivery
at anonymous segment data in a different incrementally across channels that are
way than the U.S. The EU Privacy Directive typically working in siloes.
may require that users must consent before
placing an anonymous cookie. The final
interpretation is due out in April. Platform Led Process
This is truly historic times for marketing.
Where’s the Value? Just a couple of years ago the tools to
comb through colossal data numbers were
From a customer perspective, a qualitative not available. Trillions of rows of data and
benefit comes from the fact that you petabytes of information are created daily
are observing and listening to your and in some cases every hour or less. And it is
consumers. Every action or piece of only growing. Traditional RDBMS would choke
information a customer provides is a form and fail on numbers of these sizes, or would
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31. Big Marketing: Moving past single channel siloes to drive customer-centric
insights and experiences.
From behavior in a single channel or
To a holistic view of the customer and
session or by product (for example:
segment groups over time
conversion, visits, orders, etc.)
be prohibitively expensive and fragile. But • Google making its MapReduce algorithm
having the capability is only part of the story. publicly available. This is the algorithm that
allows Google to index the vast swaths of
To do this right, process is key. The data data across the web in a distributed fashion
warehousing technology landscape has using thousands of servers across the world.
traditionally been dominated by two types
of solutions: • Yahoo open-sourcing Hadoop—an
implementation of the MapReduce
1. Traditional databases such as Oracle, SQL algorithm—thereby making the power
Server, Informix etc. These are used when of “MapReduce” and big data processing
data size is on the order of gigabytes available to the world at large.
2. Data warehousing appliances such as • Amazon launching a cloud-based
Teradata, Netezza, etc. These are used for data implementation of Hadoop through their
processing needs in the terabytes. Elastic MapReduce service, solving the
Datawarehouse appliances, with their massively problem of getting access to large amounts
parallel processing capabilities, can be quite of hardware on an as-needed basis to run
expensive and so were not unaffordable for Hadoop for large data processing needs.
most marketers. However the landscape has
changed dramatically over the last five years These developments provide the ability to
primarily due to a few developments in the data process data in the order of petabytes at
processing world in general: vastly lower price points than previously
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32. available and in a much faster and more jobs were taking more than a day to process
flexible manner. For example, at Razorfish and the situation was getting worse with
we have been able to bring down the time every passing day. Fast forward to 2009
it takes us to process 90 days’ worth of where the Hive/Hadoop cluster at Facebook
Atlas cookie data (a data set that could be stores more than 2PB of uncompressed data
5-10TB in size) from an average of 15-16 and routinely loads 15 TB of data daily!
hours to 3-4 hours by using Amazon’s Elastic
MapReduce service a roughly 400% increase Finally, new types of Massively Parallel
in processing speed, not to mention the Processing or “analytic databases” such
cost-savings gained by moving to a pay-per- as Asterdata and Vertica, which leverage
use service and the elasticity to increase the MapReduce/Hadoop technologies in the
number of servers needed at will! cloud, offer another attractive alternative
to marketers. They offer most of the
The other important development is the benefits that commercial data warehousing
emergence of what are called “noSQL” appliances have traditionally offered but at
databases sporting names such as a lower cost and with the flexibility that a
Cassandra, membase, CouchDB, etc. These cloud-based architecture can offer.
have been developed primarily to meet the
massive data storage and processing needs For Best Buy, Razorfish was able to leverage
of social media firms such as Facebook, Amazon’s implementation of Hadoop,
Digg, and Zynga. In simple terms, noSQL Amazon Elastic MapReduce, and use it to
databases offer extremely fast read/write generate amazing results. We created about
capabilities at the cost of not guaranteeing 36 different personalization segments for
ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation the retailer. Those segments were able
and Durability) properties associated with to drive close to 2 million personalized
traditional SQL databases. These databases messages. We would import about .5
offer marketers a solution to scenarios trillion rows of data into 100 machines AWS
where speed and volume are more EMR cluster on demand to personalize our
important than accuracy. experiences. This all happened in about
8 hours a day and resulted in about 500%
To get a sense for the data processing return on advertising spend. Doing this with
capabilities that these technologies old world big data technologies would have
have ushered in, consider this: Facebook taken weeks to months simply to get the
started with a commercial RDBMS-based servers provisioned. And the servers would
infrastructure that began to crumble sit around idly between sessions.
when it reached around 15TB in size.
The infrastructure at that time was so
inadequate that some daily data processing
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