Sometimes there's so much hype around analytics, big data and The Next Big Data Thing that it buries news about useful data projects offering real-world value. That's why I find the Computerworld Data+ Editors' Choice awards so interesting -- they're examples of data use in the wild that are actually helping real businesses, government agencies and other entities do everything from fight credit-card fraud and find the best ways to treat hospitalized patients to identify potentially endangered species.
Interested in finding a project that might be specific to what you do? I've collected and categorized them all in a searchable table below -- click through any item in the first column to see a project profile. Or, you can browse the projects by starting with Finding ROI in a swirl of data analytics and then clicking through them in the navigation strip at the bottom of all the project profiles.
Data+ Editors' Choice Projects
Organization | Issues | Industry | Technology | Vendor |
---|---|---|---|---|
Childen's National Health System | Find geographic clusters of health problems | Healthcare | Electronic health records, GIS | Esri |
City of Buffalo, NY | Deal effectively with consumer feedback | Government | CRM | KANA |
Conservation International | Identify threats to species and habitats | Environment | IoT, image analysis | Hewlett-Packard |
DirecTV | Create personalized advertisements | Media, Marketing, Advertising | Personalization | NA |
FICO | Stop credit-card fraud | Finance, Retail, Security | Predictive analytics | NA |
FloraCraft | Forecast need for materials, monitor performance & more | Manufacturing | ERP | Plex Systems |
GDELT Project | Better understand the world through the world's largest unclassified data set | Non-profit | Database | Google's Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Translate and BigQuery; numerous other open-source |
Loyola University, MD | Keep data secure by understanding user activity and access needs | Education, Security | Data access monitoring and management | DatAdvantage from Varonis Systems |
Memorial Healthcare | Find cost efficiencies and improve patient cre | Healthcare | Business Intelligence | BI Office from Pyramid Analytics, Microsoft SQL Server |
Merck | Uncover hidden value in the organization through centralized analytics | Healthcare, Pharmaceutical | Business Intelligence | NA |
Mercy Healthcare | Objectively assess different treatment methods by analyzing patient records | Healthcare | Electronic health records | Ayasdi |
National Grid | Predict storm impacts | Energy | Predictive analytics | In-house with MIT |
PayPal | Detect and fight payment fraud | Finance, Retail, Security | Predictive analytics, Machine learning | In-house |
Randall-Reilly | Uncover useful sales insights from existing data | Marketing Services | Business Intelligence | In-house |
Schneider Electric | Track expiring service agreements; Impove accuracy of price quotes | Industrial Software | Business Intelligence | AutoQuote Campaign Engine and ServiceExchange from MaintenanceNet |
TempuTech | Prevent equipment failure | Agriculture, Industrial Automation | IoT, Cloud | in-house with GE Intelligent Platform |
UPS | Optimize delivery-truck routes | Delivery & Freight Services | Fleet telematics, GIS | In-house ORION platform |
World Resources Institute | Measure deforestation risk | Manufacturing | Supply chain management | Blue Raster LLC, Esri |
Zulily | Speed inventory decisions | Retail | Hadoop, others | Gogle's Cloud Platform including Hadoop on Google's Compute Engine and BigQuery |