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TechAmerica's SMAC Chicago Turns the Spotlight on Technology Convergence(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CHICAGO, July 29 -- The Computing Technology Industry Association issued the following news release: The convergence of emerging technologies such as social media, mobility, analytics and the cloud (SMAC) is driving rapid change in the way people work and play, experts concluded at SMAC Chicago, a forum hosted by the TechAmerica Foundation on July 22. Keynote speakers Brenna Berman, commissioner and chief information officer for the Chicago Department of Innovation Technology, Joseph Scaminaci, with flight operations technology for United Airlines and a panel of public and private sector experts, discussed how their organizations are tackling the challenges and opportunities that accompany merging SMAC technologies. "I think we are really right at the beginning of what's possible with the fusion of all these things," said Dr. Bamshad Mobasher, co-founder and director of the Center for Data Mining and Predictive Analytics at DePaul University, where the event was held. "I think personalization and context awareness are really what's going to drive the next generation of these applications." Enabling smarter thinking In recent years, the City of Chicago has invested in its open access initiatives, creating public data sets and analytics that serve as a foundation for transformative constituent-facing applications. "The convergence of these technologies is being used both to hold the city accountable and to create micro global apps, like an app that shows the best route to walk your children to school," Berman explained. "The city's IT team has written open source software is currently building a predictive analytics platform called Windy Grid to give city employees the tools they need to do their jobs more efficiently." Scaminaci explained how technological convergence allowed United Airlines to replace 12,000 paper-based flight manuals with iPads. The tablets can be updated seamlessly and are significantly lighter than traditional flight books. Since the transition, United Airlines has saved 16 million sheets of paper and 150,000 gallons of fuel annually. At the same time, the convergence of SMAC technologies has allowed the tablets to be customized for industry-specific needs. Keeping pace with consumers remains a priority The panel also discussed how changing consumer preferences are driving the convergence of SMAC technologies. While more attention is being paid to developing context-aware applications for a more targeted customer or constituent experience, the role of user privacy must also be considered. "It's really about making sure that we're using context in a way that isn't creepy. We just want to provide you with the right information at the right time," Megan Hughes, director of mobile products at Orbitz, said. In order to fully take advantage of these uniting technologies and adapt to consumers' needs, businesses and governments will need to address a number of internal factors, such as legacy IT infrastructure, departmental processes and the need for skilled technical labor. "We hear a lot about the consumerization of IT, and a lot of times we mean that the technology is being developed for the consumer," said panelist Seth Robinson, CompTIA's director of technology analysis. "But on the flip side, consumers have gotten a lot more comfortable with IT and what they're expecting." To learn more about SMAC Chicago visit TechAmerica's Policy Watch Blog. [Category: Education] TNS 24HariCha-140730-30FurigayJane-4813183 30FurigayJane (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |