Digital nervous system in large data age

Beijing Time September 5 News, according to foreign media reports, editor's note: This article was originally contained in O ' Reilly radar blog, after obtaining the authorization Ufforbus republish.

Where does the data from the big data come from? Why do Internet bosses Facebook and Google not care? The answer is because these network companies have already taken the forefront of the times, has grasped the opportunity. Driven by social, mobile and cloud technologies, important transformations are taking place, leading us into the data world where these internet companies live.

From digital frame to digital nervous system

Until a few years ago, the main function of computer systems was to be a digital support system, especially in a business environment. Various applications digitize real-world processes, such as text, payroll, and inventory processing. These systems have sex with the real world through shops, people, telephones and transportation. The word paperless Office (paperless office) conveys to us the message that we have been transformed from a paper-processing era to a computer-processing era.

The advent of the Internet and the web has added a new dimension, allowing us to enter an era that is fully digitized as a business model. Customer interaction, payment, and product distribution can all be handled through computer systems. Data is no longer just a framework for the system shell, but a key element in the process of operation. We are now entering a new era in which businesses and societies embrace the digital nervous system.

The sketch below shows that an organization with a digital nervous system will have massive inflows, outflows of data, high-level internal and external network systems, increasing data flow and complex structures.

This transformation has made big data very important. Large network companies to acquire a huge amount of interconnected heterogeneous data, and then through a variety of algorithms to deal with these data, which will be our "digital national" the main tool for transformation. In fact, there are also early examples of large data applications such as screening fraud in financial transactions and helping to debug and improve recruitment processes. Nowadays, almost everyone is devoting a lot of attention to the relevant social network information flow.

From digital frame to digital nervous system

Transition

Science and technology in the business world have been developing, and each step will increase the amount of data. For those who focus on the big data, ask yourself if the big data is right for you.

The answer is whether your network business can lead users to 100% online activities. All of the user's actions should be easily done in your digital nervous system. If you own factories, stores and other industries, you can further integrate these services into the digital nervous system.

This kind of integration action has begun to happen. The development of networks, social media, mobility and cloud technology has allowed every business to enter a more data-driven world. The British government has launched a government digital service this year (government Digital Service,gds) to improve the UK government's digital services. Ultimately, the user experience of the public has been completely improved, and it is the first time that many departments have a better judgment of their business approach. Retailers such as Square, Anglo Express and Foursquare have brought payments to social, responsive data ecosystems.

What does it mean to build a digital nervous system? The point is to create a fully digitized feedback loop for your organizational system. In other words, create a direct connection from sensing input and monitoring input to product output. The internet's characteristics are very straightforward, which makes the threshold of retail business even lower. With the development of sensors and robots, it will bring great changes to industry, transportation and military industry.

In the past more than 30 years, the digital nervous system has been in a steady development, each small step of development has led to increased data flexibility and order of magnitude. In the development process, the first is the application is a specific purpose, and then to the general business use of computers. Then there is the direct interactive function based on the network. After adding the mobility element, we provide the time and place of the dimension and the instant reminder function. The next step is to break the data silo with the support of cloud technology, and the powerful function of cloud computing increases the flexibility of storage and computation. Today, we will integrate intelligent agents that can act on our behalf and connect with the real world through sensors and automation.

Are you ready for the coming big Data age?

If you're not ready to take full advantage of the digital nervous system to expand your business, you'll lag behind your competitors sooner or later. As the famous engineers, investors and columnist Anderson of Silicon Valley wrote in an article published last year, "Software is devouring the world", everything will be programmed.

It is the development of the digital nervous system that makes the technology and tools of large data become closely related to each of us. The massive data stream, the various data levels have brought us new challenges, which will lead us into a new era based on data statistics, with systematic thinking and machine learning as the means.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)