Weather predictions, APIs, IoT, and a powerful digital platform for your uninterrupted Business

This article was originally published on IBM Big Data Hub.

Many of us seem to watch weather forecasts to figure out what to wear the next day but forget about it right after that, unless of course there is snow in the forecast. Especially here in the northeast; we dread watching the weather report for about six months of the year.

For this reason, IBM’s acquisition of The Weather Company was a head-scratching moment for many because we are used to only the consumer aspect of weather, not the business side—especially given the high speculation by The Wall Street Journal.

Why did IBM, an IT software company, go after The Weather Company then? IBM started this fundamental shift a few years ago, transforming itself from a big IT and mainframe provider to a digital, data and insight company. Recent speeches by the CEO of IBM clearly articulate its main focus has shifted toward cognitive computing, analytics, IoT, APIs, hybrid cloud and digital platforms that support big corporations to reinvent themselves and engage in the digital economy.

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Want to practice capitalism?

As with most modernized economies, the United States economy utilizes capitalist principles. It is only fitting that we invented a technological solution that will help companies engage in c-api-talism using APIs in a more efficient manner.

Digitizing Healthcare, Because Our Lives Matter

This article originally appeared on IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub.

The United States spends around 17-18% of its GDP on healthcare every year. When you put this into dollar numbers, it is a mind-boggling $2.9 trillion.

Unfortunately, that spending will grow at a faster rate now due to baby boomers becoming an aging population, and they are the largest demographic in the U.S. (Baby boomers are about 76 million, which accounts for 25% of the population of the U.S.). The healthcare related spending is expected to grow at a faster pace than the under 5% annual rate it grew over the last decade.

Unless the U.S. gets this spiraling healthcare spending under control, in a few short years we will be spending almost 25% of our entire GDP in healthcare trying to fix people’s failing health, instead of spending it somewhere else where it is desperately needed. Obviously, we can’t stop the aging population, but we can make the healthcare system more efficient. Overall, chronic diseases account for about 86% of the health care spending in USA. Severe chronic conditions such as heart disease, arthritis, asthma and diabetes alone cost 33% of the total spending.

The “Ugly Duckling” API syndrome

As an advisor and a digital strategist, part of my role is to talk to customers about their APIs, IoTs, and their overall digital strategy. After conversations with a lot of them, one thing stands out: Almost everyone thinks their API is awesome. While a good portion of them are very impressive, and some are moderate to good, I do see a bunch of ugly ones too. However, if you are a producer — whether it is a movie, a baby, or an API – it will be hard for you to realize, admit, and come to terms with your “Ugly Ducklings.” Obviously, the amount of sweat and tears that went into your initiative causes you to look at your APIs through beer goggles, which makes them look good in your eyes, even if the APIs are mediocre.

Bringing your ideas to life in digital economy

Bringing your life-changing ideas to fruition needs a different mindset (and toolset) in the digital economy. The need for speed with digital innovation is more important than ever, with every start-up trying to push the envelope with their new ideas.

Remember the good old days, when you had an idea and tried to prove that concept by doing a POC (Proof of Concept)? While the POC technically stands for proving a concept, most times it is done as a proof of technology. We try to figure out a way to incorporate this newer idea into an existing IT infrastructure, often failing, and trying to make it work. I still remember the days in which we used to wait for the security admins to open the appropriate ports and give us the right access before we could even start to “install” our software to try things out. Those days are gone!

In the digital economy, once you get an idea, you cannot afford to sit around and build it for years, not even months, like legacy enterprise software.

Success of Data Insight–Driven Enterprises in Digital Economy

This article originally appeared on IBM Data Magazine.

Connecting everything to the Internet—the Internet of Everything—brings an interesting problem to the forefront: data onslaught. Examples of data onslaught in the new digital economy includes the 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data collected every single day (and it is expected to increase three times by 2017), or the 2.5 PB of data collected by a major retailer every hour or the fact that by 2015, 1 trillion devices are expected to be connected to the Internet and generate data for consumption.

A key point that almost every organization seems to miss in the data economy is that just because they are collecting so much data doesn’t mean they are collecting the right data, or even enough data. They may be either collecting very little of something very important or not collecting the right data at all. Even more appalling are situations in which organizations collect huge amounts of data and do absolutely nothing with it. People often make the mistake of connecting value with voluminous data.

Where are you spending your enterprise IT dollars?

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn Pulse.

In the last few years, the enterprise landscape has changed. While IoT “infestation” is a major reason for this change, there are other important reasons too. The need to provide flexible interface for your partners in a quick manner, the need to mobile enable not only any new application/process that is being built, but also existing applications, and the need for enterprises to connect/synergize with social networks, cloud, etc. all dictate where your shrinking enterprise IT dollars need to be spent.

IBM/SmartBear Webinar – Tomorrow (Jan 8, 2015) 11 am ET

IBM recently announced a two-way plug-in between IBM API Platform and SmartBear Ready!API API testing tool.  You can find more details about this at the following links:

1. Are you ready to liberate your APIs?
2. API Readiness with the IBM API Management Platform
3. SmartBear IBM APIM Plug-in

When your APIs are ready to be liberated, are you ready to free them?

Almost every enterprise that I know takes a very cautious approach to this new API game. They build it, test it, try it, do a limited release, then fix the necessary areas, test it again, and finally, when they are satisfied they are ready, they get it out in the open. Unlike fly-by-night operations, established businesses have a lot at stake when it comes to putting APIs out in the open. Their reputation! This is key before you can declare your APIs as business assets.

Going beyond the mobile app gold rush

Recently, I wrote a blog on “What powers the mobile economy?” which created lot of interesting conversations. A few large enterprise customers reached out to me and suggested they can relate to things I said in my post. In my follow-up conversations with them, a couple of more interesting views came up.