Patterns in big data in healthcare, retail, and farming, that can be applied to other industries. This is adapted from Big Data Revolution: What farmers, doctors and insurance agents teach us about discovering big data patterns

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© Rob Thomas
Big Data Revolution
@robdthomas

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© Rob Thomas
Data Science
Get value from data
Turn data into insights
Turn insights into impact

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© Rob Thomas
3 Attributes of Leaders in the Data Era
The ability to suspend disbelief of
what is possible, and to create
their own definition of possible
An inherent knowledge of pattern
recognition and the insight to
apply patterns from one industry
to another
Commitment to one-percent
improvement in every aspect
related to data
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© Rob Thomas
Data is the new basis of
competitive advantage
A Point of View

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© Rob Thomas
3 Stories and 9 Patterns

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© Rob Thomas
The Retail Challenge
Retail as
we’ve known it
New factors
driving decline
Financial model
Price transparency
Social engagement
New distribution models
Price of innovation
Experience

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© Rob Thomas
New Business Models Emerge
 Stores feed real-time behavior to design
 Concept-to-shelf: 12 months to 2 weeks
 Scarcity as the business model
 Unsold inventory <10% (20% is standard)
 Profiles  Attributes
 Explicit data
 500 million individual data points
 No two fixes the same
“What customers buy and why,
and what they don’t buy and
why not, is very powerful.”

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© Rob Thomas
Patterns Exposed
Retail Expand channels
to engage users
New economic
models
Individuals, not
markets

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© Rob Thomas
The Farming Challenge
1700s (Subsistence Farming): Farmers produced the
minimum amount of food necessary to feed their families
and have some in reserve for the cold winter months.
1800s (Farming for Profit): This era marked the
transition from subsistence farming to for-profit farming.
This is when the widespread use of barns began, for the
purpose of storing tools, crops, and related equipment.
These were called pioneer farms.
Early 1900s (Power Farming): At this time, the “power”
came in the form of 1,800-pound horses. The farmers
used animals for plowing, planting, and transporting crops.
The use of animal labor drove the first significant increase
in crop productivity.
Mid- to late 1900s (Machine Farming): Sparked by the
Industrial Revolution, this era’s farmers relied on the
automation of many of the tasks formerly done by hand or
animal. The addition of machinery created tremendous
gains in productivity and quality.
Physical evolution drives incremental improvement

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© Rob Thomas
New Data and Applications Transform Farming
New Data New Applications
+
= Exponential improvements

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© Rob Thomas
Patterns Exposed
Retail Expand channels
to engage users
New economic
models
Individuals, not
markets
New sources of
data
Data
applications
New business
processesFarming

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© Rob Thomas
The Woes of Medicine
First Medical School (1220)
Publication bias
Opinion bias
Medicine is a process of trial & error, coupled with professional opinion.

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© Rob Thomas
Doctors Will Have Math Degrees
We will soon have the data and analysis to become CEO of our own health
Cellscope Quanttus
Millions of data points in real time
HealthTap
Eliminates bias/opinion Self-service/
Social
The skills of physicians will evolve in the data era

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© Rob Thomas
Patterns exposed
Expand channels
to engage users
New economic
models
Individuals, not
marketsRetail
New sources of
data
Data
applications
New business
processesFarming
Data collection for
advantage
Redefine a
skilled worker
Social networks
drive dataMedicine

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© Rob Thomas
Buy the Book
http://www.bigdatarevolutionbook.com
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