The role of Big Data on society : EBU conference
With fellow colleagues of EBU, I organized last week a conference entitled “Big Data and Society“at RTBF, the French-speaking public broadcasting organization of Belgium. As I wrote on EBU website, this event aimed at gathering together professionals from the broadcasting industry to reflect on the impact of Big Data, recommendation algorithms and filter bubbles on society in general, and on users’ behaviors in particular. We assembled an amazing panel of 8 speakers from 5 countries who shared...
Amazon Go : this disruptive retail model hides a secret
Amazon Go is a 100% connected store where checkout are automated. Amazon Go is the convergence of at least 3 important trends : the first one is the diversification of Amazon into brick-and-mortar store the second one is a trend to decrease costs in the retail sector to increase margins the third one is the dream to put all behaviors into data to better predict what consumers will buy next Trend #1 : Amazon’s diversification into...
A roll to spread chocolate : really a good idea?
One at food fair SIAL 2016 featured inovations was a “choco roll”. this product had been selected for its innovative packaging. In light of the debate on the failure rate of innovations in the food sector, we paid a visit to the Israeli company that brought it on the market. The idea behind the “chocolate spread revolution” The company which presented this product at SIAL was “choco roll”. The roll was filled with chocolate made by...
Are we living in the matrix ?
Are we already living in the matrix ? That question may seem odd to most of you. Not to some unidentified silicon valley billionaires who are secretly funding scientists to find a way to escape the matrix. I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom and algorithms for a few months now, and would like to share some of my thoughts with you. Background : what was the matrix about ? Let’s remember what the Matrix movie...
Vitality offers Apple watch to monitor your activity : one more insurance into big (health) data
A few weeks ago we were discussing on this blog the trend of the insurance market to collect very intrusive data. I had the opportunity to raise my concerns at several conferences and got the impression that people were not aware of what was going on (especially as far as car insurances are concerned). In particular I gave the example of CSS Insurance in Switzerland which proposed customers to wear a fit band capturing activity data...
Digitalization : why I will not use my insurance mobile application
Digitalization in the banking and insurance sectors has led to massive job cuts. In this article I discussed this trend in the banking sector and I debated on TV of this trend in the insurance sector (see here, in French). In light of the dramatic changes that both sectors are currently undergoing, my health insurance company, DKV, recently sent me an email asking to adopt their new digital tool, a mobile application allowing customers to scan...
Artificial Intelligence : why we need respectful algorithms
Developments of artificial intelligence are a source of concern for several reasons. First of all AI threatens jobs, privacy and our perceived freedom. Second, 99,99% of the population doesn’t really understand what AI is and where it originates. In today’s post I’d like to raise the case of respectful Artificial Intelligence and explain why we need the way we conceive “intelligent” algorithms. Why do we need respectful artificial intelligence and privacy laws ? Technology should be...
Big Data : 4 types of filter bubbles
The question of the existence of filter bubbles (also called cognitive bubbles) is central to the fields of Big Data and algorithm design. Among different books, I was very much influenced by the Dominique Cardon’s book on algorithms and society. In this book entitled “What are algorithms dreaming of ?” Cardon proposes a framework based on four types of web measurements, each resting on a specified data type (see summary table below). Examples Data Population...
SIAL 2016 : first conclusions from a busy week
Like every 2 years I spent a few days attending the world’s biggest food fair : SIAL 2016. Each and every year this fait gets bigger and 2016 was no exception. SIAL 2016 remains a primary source of information for market research on the food sector and trends detection. Here are my high-level conclusions that I’ll complement in the coming days with special in-depth articles on specific products. Let’s get organic 5 years ago, organic food...
Big Data and Ethics : how recommendations work at Meetup.com
There have been many interesting talks at the RecSys 2016 conference in Boston. Yet, the presentation given by Evan Estola of Meetup was especially inspiring to me. It wasn’t the regular technical speech you may expect in that kind of conference (although Evan is himself a rather technical guy); rather it gave the audience a perspective and a vision on how ethics and Big Data can (and need to) be combined. Evan started by giving examples...
RecSys 2016 conference : trends in recommendation on TV
The ACM Recommender Systems conference opened on 15 September 2016 in Boston (MA) with the RecSys TV workshop, one day dedicated to recommender systems in the broadcasting sphere. Presentations by Verizon, Comcast, Netflix, the University of Lisbon were the highlights of the day. Diana Hu (Verizon) showed how time-series can be used to predict users’ preferences. An interesting decomposition in genres showed very recurrent patterns throughout the week. This, added to other recurring patterns on longer...
Why you should not wear health devices
So far insurances had to rely on your declarative questionnaires to evaluate the risk you represented. Those have been found to be very intrusive; so intrusive in fact that Belgian consumers’ defense organization Test Achats has urged insurance companies to change those questionnaires (link in French). This evaluation was made at the time you subscribed the insurance and was likely not to be revised afterwards. Insurances had to predict your risk for the x coming years...
Users change their behaviors to please algorithms
Technology and especially algorithms have invaded the public space. According to Alain Damasio “Freedom is not a desirable concept anymore”. Security and ease-of-use now comes first, as the success of recommendation engines tends to prove. We are surrounded by computer code suggesting choices and taking decisions for us : from Google search box making suggestions to Netflix’ recommendation engine, through Facebook EdgeRange algorithm. Those algorithms do help us for sure. The amount of possibilities surrounding us...
Recommendation algorithms : how big is the Filter Bubble in actuality
Recommendation algorithms have been accused to trap users in a filter bubble, to promote the balkanization of information and hence to reduce serependity. The biggest opponent of recommendation engine is probably Eli Pariser who invented the very term of “filter bubble”. Despite very convincing arguments in his 2011 book, Pariser somewhat failed at backing his theory with figures (which is perfectly understandable given the novelty of this topic back in 2011). What we propose to do...
1 month using TOR : it ain’t easy to protect his privacy
Those of you who watched Ed Snowden’s movie “Citizen Four” are certainly aware of privacy issues that come with the use of the Internet. Privacy was first a value of the internet and progressively became a myth. The initial libertarian dream has turned into a total control nightmare, not far away from Orwell’s “1984” vision. All your online actions are being tracked. With that in mind I decided to remove Chrome and Firefox and to use...
Let’s reinvent recommendation engines
Recommendation engines (a series of algorithms aiming at targeting what you’d like best to see / get / purchase / you name it) are everywhere. You use them without knowing it. The first recommendation engine is actually Google (or any search engine) that aims at recommending you the most relevant content for you among millions (if not billions) of possible pages. Those recommendation algorithms make choices for you and exclude de facto content that would be...
French Universities scandalous selection algorithm revealed
Big Data technologies and in particular selection algorithms attract more and more criticism from libertarian advocates. I echoed growing concerns myself in an article calling for more transparent algorithms. French newspaper Liberation revealed that National Education ministry faces legal pressure to give access to the code behind the APB algorithm. The latter is used by universities to select freshmen. The variables used by this algorithm remained secret until a student association, helped by lawyer Jean Merlet-Bonnan,...
Big Data : what are the trends in the retail and insurance sectors ?
In partnership with Microsoft Europe (Brussels), the University of Louvain (Belgium) organized a conference on 13 May where I discussed the future impact of Big Data in the retail and insurance sectors. I started by outlining the 4 sectors that are heavy data producers and users : banking, insurance, retail and telecom. I showed that Big Data is used for only two purposes in these sectors : reduce costs or generate revenues. I then moved on...
The Financial Times found the most perfect KPI’s to measure success
The success of any marketing action needs to be measured with the right KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). The Financial Times found a unique KPI that allows outstanding predictions of their churn rate. Read further to learn more. KPI’s are difficult to set The very definition of those KPI’s is a crucial part of any project. If you take the wrong KPI’s you’ll get a biased perspective on what you are doing. If you chose the right...
Will Amazon revolutionize supply-chain management?
Two years ago we were analyzing on this blog the rise of a new logistics giant : Amazon. Amazon was successfully testing new delivery experiences with DHL and Audi. We also predicted Amazon was ready to compete directly with the DHL, Fedex and UPS of this world. The announcement made by Amazon to open parcel locker network across Europe, is a logical first step before entering the battle. As you may remember from our market research...
iOT : this object offers a new music experience
Music can be experienced in very different ways. But nowadays it’s mainly digital (despite vinyl revival). Beyond.io, an Antwerp-based iOT agency, wanted to create a new music experience. X-II was their answer. Music sharing has changed They launched the X-II project to propose a new experience around music, and in particular around how music is shared among friends and relatives. Do you remember the last time you borrowed or lent a CD to a friend ?...
Insurances : towards the end of the risk sharing principle ?
There is one very important underlying principle of any insurance : risk sharing. Good drivers cover a part of the risk of bad drivers; people in good health pay for those who fall ill. Americans call this a “socialist” way of doing business. But until now insurances in Europe have always favored a group approach vs. an individualistic one. The data revolution may be the end of this. Here’s why. Customer data will enable user-centric approach...
Mobile Me : your car has no secrets for Mercedes
Nowadays cars can be connected with your smartphone ; not only to make calls but also to control your car at distance. The Mercedes Me application enables the owner to monitor basic and more advanced functionalities of the vehicle through his smartphone. The presence of a SIM card transmitting the information to the smartphone is the enabler of this enhanced connectivity ; but it may also enable Mercedes to become a data provider. Your car has...
Nespresso : the secret behind the new Prodigio connected machine
Nespresso just launched a new connected machine called “Prodigio”. This machine allegedly allows you to prepare a coffee with your smartphone and make sure you never run out of Nespresso capsules. This machine will however allow much more than that … but the customer will probably never get to know it. Let’s have a look behind the scene and discover the secrets of the Prodigio strategy. Churn : the one metric Nespresso is concerned about For...
Are smart boxes the future of car insurance?
Telematic units, also called black or smart boxes, are devices installed in a car to monitor a driver’s behavior (speed, acceleration, deceleration, …). They are increasingly used by insurance companies to develop a pay-as-you-drive pricing. Such pricing may be especially interesting for young drivers who are hit by high insurance premiums. Young drivers are victims of their youth One metric sums it up all: 25% of accidents are caused by young drivers. This is quite a...
Design Thinking helped us imagine creative business cards
Are business cards something of the past ? We definitely don’t think so, especially if you have a creative business card that will make an impact. We used Design Thinking techniques to revisit the experience around giving and getting a business card. Our aim was to make this moment unforgettable and to make a real psychological impact on potential customers. The design and prototyping process took ca. 6 months to complete. We eventually found the right materials, the...
Big Data : 4 points to understand your legal responsibilities
I recently attended a workshop on the legal aspects of Big Data and IoT (Internet of Things) that was organized by Impulse in Brussels. The presenter, Philippe Laurent, had a very clever and clear way of presenting the problems posed by Big Data and I thought it might be interesting to share his presentation and conclusions with you. In particular he proposed a 4-category framework that is easy to understand and will give you essential guidance...
Real-estate prices predicted : latest news of startup Realo
Last year we reported on the scandal that followed the launch of Realo, a website predicting real-estate prices. A Belgian initiative, Realo has European ambitions and is based on a business model that has proved its efficacy in the US : Zillow.com The scandal was due to the nature of the data used in the algorithm to predict prices : unemployment rate, multiculturality, education levels, … Although all data used was public (and provided for free...
Algorithms : is our freedom threatened?
If you follow the news you may have come across this news : a deep-learning algorithm has defeated the European master of Go. This news was such a milestone in artificial intelligence (AI) that it was featured in the Nature issue on 28 Jan 2016. Big Data scientists believed indeed it would take another 10 years for a computer to beat a human player at Go. The least we can say is that it went much...
Sharing economy : revenues to be taxed in France
The good thing with the sharing economy is that it has empowered individuals to make money. The bad thing is that governments haven’t been able to take much advantage of those new business models. In France the sharing economy represents a turnover of €2.5bn and a workforce estimated to 13000. Needless to say, it was more than enough to get the attention of governments in desperate need of money since the financial crisis has begun in...
Facebook case: towards more Big Data transparency ?
No later than Monday we were announcing the next Big Data revolution : algorithms will become more transparent in the future. We argued consumers will become increasingly aware of how sensitive their data is, eventually demanding information on how it is used and Big Data transparency. On Monday evening (08 Feb 2016) the French data protection authority (CNIL) together with the fraud authorities (DGCCRF) confirmed that trend. They listed a series of infringements and demanded that...
Big Data : here’s the next revolution
This is the beginning of the next Big Data revolution. However it remained confidential. A bill was passed in France mid-January that will force the fiscal authorities to reveal the variables in algorithms used to take individual decisions (article in French). In other words, if you are picked up to get your tax declarations scrutinized, the fiscal authorities will have to reveal how you were picked up. Big Data: when ethics comes into play Until now...
Creative business cards : we are almost there
Last year I felt the need to have new business cards. From the very beginning I wanted to create creative business cards that people would remember. After searching the internet and in particular pinterest, I drafted a few concepts that combined all my objectives. I also spotted this one example that I found absolutely stunning. Creative business cards : 3 tips for a wow effect I listed 3 elements that in my opinion define...
Heineken beer pump LeSub spotted in … Madrid
Last year we reported about the superb popup store Heineken opened in Paris : the Substore. Although we were told the beer pump “Le Sub” were available physically only in the Substore from Nov 20 until Dec 20, 2015, we surprisingly spotted a few exemplars … in Madrid. It was completely unexpected for us to find this novelty there; even more surprising was the fact that those machines were displayed among clothes and other objects in trendy store, whose...
Clever store window : innovative, interactive and surprising
Shoppers are desperately in need of new, innovative and refreshing ideas in the retail sphere. Retailers have come up with tons of digital innovations inside the store, all aiming at selling more. But they forgot the enchantment part of the story. Where is the magic of the stores you visited during your childhood? Shoppers are desperate because there is no more magic; there are only strategies to sell more, to tie you up and increase your...
What is the future of radio?
The hope we were having a few years ago that younger listeners on the internet would move back to so-called linear consumption, is gone (see our latest article on radio consumption habits). We are currently in a period of transition, as the CEO if the BBC pointed out in a recent speech, and we don’t know where we are heading to. This is a context of maximal uncertainty for the future of radio. Skipping tracks...
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