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Big Data & a Big Impact on Govt

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By now you may have heard of the Big Data “revolution” that is taking many industries by storm. What you may not realize is how much there is to gain by utilizing information extracted from Big Data to help guide and improve the future of various companies and organizations, such as those within our government.

A great example of an organization which could benefit from Big Data analytics, USAID has its hands full trying to feed the world and provide new and untapped resources to those who live in some of the most difficult places in the world. Right now USAID is working on meeting some very important world goals and every dollar of funding needs to be guided to the right place to make the largest impact. USAID works hard to bring markets for sale of goods and services to those who cannot reach them. This is important work and the money that goes into it affects millions of people all over the globe.

In the 2014 report titled Big Data Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values,  “properly implemented, Big Data will become a historic driver of progress, helping our nation perpetuate the civic and economic dynamism that has long been its hallmark.”

Photo credit- Wired.com and NIST.gov

Photo credit- Wired.com and NIST.gov

So how exactly can we take big benefits from Big Data?

Identifying and removing duplicated projects for large organizations is one of the ways that Pushgraph can help your business save time and money. Uncovering redundant or out-dated business operations that can be closed or improved is another. Visual analytics and predictive analysis  provide proactive insight into future decision-making. Some government agencies, such as the NIH, USDA, and USAID, are already gaining knowledge and insight by utilizing Big Data. One of these organizations achieved 2083% ROI by using Pushgraph PaaS. With better metrics than all of the leading competition, an easy-to-use interface, and fast deployment time, Pushgraph can save your large organization lots of time (i.e. money).

Pushgraph PaaS is designed to process large amounts of structured or unstructured data at speeds which far surpass that of the some of our competitors (e.g. SAS, SAP, Oracle). ChalkLabs professionals build your applications on this incredible platform by analyzing and modeling your existing workflows. We are highly experienced in consulting, data management, web development, and are dedicated to ensuring you get the most ROI on your investment. Why wait until another year passes?

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(source – http://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/economic-growth-and-trade)

(http://www.whitehouse.gov/)(http://1.usa.gov/1ky0reK)

 

 

USAID is “Feeding the Future”

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The U.S. has been a leader in global aid efforts and reform initiatives for decades now.

By 2050 there will be about 9 billion mouths to feed which means we have to double our current food production to compensate.

world_hunger

After the extreme increase in food costs in 2007-2008, President Obama decided to take action to begin helping the 800 million people who suffer from hunger.

Since the launch of Feeding the Future Initiative backed by the government in 2010, the impact of the educational efforts and time spent changing lives by U.S organizations has shown substantial benefits in so many countries.

Now, USAID faces the never-ending challenge of helping to reduce the amount of people who have to go to bed hungry every night as well as the number of children facing malnutrition.

The primary problem? World hunger. The solution? Access to adequate farming resources and knowledge of better crop-growing practices and the development of small and mid-sized agriculture businesses worldwide.

USDA is also helping USAID in the allocation of resources to those in need. The USDA has helped train more than 145,000 farmers and small to mid-sized food producers on new and improved methods of farming and food safety practices.

Thanks to Feed the Future Initiative, we now see countries like Zambia, Ethiopia, Honduras, and Tanzania (to name a few),  producing up to 32% more crops to feed their people.

ChalkLabs currently offers solutions to farmers in need of technology to track weather information, improve crop yield, and show where they are wasting resources among many other benefits within the overall knowledge of your business endeavors.

If you would like to see all of the recent details from the recent year on the USAID website, please visit the link below.

Feed the Future Fact Sheet

(usaid.gov)

ChalkLabs Website

Turn Big Data into Big ROI – Advantages of Pushgraph PaaS

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Now that Cloud storage has been declared mainstream, some industries are capitalizing on Big Data technologies. A natural next step is to turn “Big Data” into “Big ROI”. One difficulty of this transition is to choose the tool that will deliver fast and flexible services to be easily utilized by your employees. Welcome to Pushgraph.

Active benefits of Pushgraph include: (a) visual and predictive analytics, (b) highly compacted semantic search capability, and (c) true in-memory computing – no SSD disk necessary.

Pushgraph PaaS solution also matches or exceeds the performance of larger and more costly Big Data platforms such as SAP’s HANA and Oracle’s TimesTen platforms.

Pushgraph customers range from government agencies to universities to medical research organizations, et. al. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the USDA are two current clients using Pushgraph to save large amounts of time and money.

One Return on Investment (ROI) estimate for Pushgraph by a public sector customer for a common type of data request between public sector organizations was 2083%. The time savings for using Pushgraph instead of existing tools for each type of this request was 7 hours. Another ROI estimate for Pushgraph regarding identification of potentially overlapping research projects will result in a potential annual cost savings of $240,000.”

Security is also a big concern among Big Data customers today. Pushgraph complies with many government and industry standards such as: 1) PCI Level 1, 2) Fips 140-2, 3) ITAR, 4) ISO 27001, 5) SSAE 16/32, 6) MPAA aligned.

The next generation of intelligent computing is here and at your fingertips. Visit ChalkLabs.com for Pushgraph benchmarks and metrics, our major clients, and a free live demonstration.

Below is a link to the performance and security data for Pushgraph –  http://bit.ly/1tNqmWd

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Benefits of Cloud-Computing Adoption by Government Agencies

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Data within private networks will soon be a thing of the past for United States Government agencies. Cloud adoption is sweeping the nation as the old world of data storage seems to dissipate. The government Cloud-Computing Technology Road Map outlines the policies in place that will hopefully accelerate Cloud usage among the many sectors of our government.

Photo credit- Wired.com and NIST.gov

Photo credit – Cloudtimes.org

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is in full support of the outline of “secure and effective adoption of the Cloud-Computing model to reduce costs and improve services,” as quoted off of their website.

Suggestions for policies back in November 2011 were provided by folks from hundreds of organizations and stake holders as well as private experts and CIO’s.

Imagine the flexibility that an estimated seven percent off of the annual I.T. budget will provide the government as a result of Cloud migration from on-premise systems.

Accountability, documentation, better decision-making based on fact, protection of the public’s rights, and improvement in operations are all among the benefits seen with Cloud adoption. Savings and efficiency are obvious and well-known up-sides to using the Cloud as well. Visions of triggering innovation in the I.T. sector of the government are in the sights of leaders as they embark upon a brand new age of technology.

So how might these benefits be obtained? Amazon Web Services is a well-known provider of GovCloud services which adhere to FedRAMP standards and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). As an AWS gold member, ChalkLabs can host applications in a secure and reliable Cloud provider. Yet data within a Cloud is useless without a platform such as Pushgraph to analyze and visualize the information at hand. Data can then transform into powerful predictive insights, competitive advantages and substantial savings.  Visit ChalkLabs.com to see who already has a competitive edge via Cloud services and Pushgraph PaaS.

(forbes.com)(wired.com)(nist.gov)(whitehouse.gov)

ChalkLabs Awarded one of “20 Most Powerful Big Data Solution Providers”

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ChalkLabs was recently named one of “20 Most Powerful Big Data Solution Providers” by CIOStory.com.

Discover how ChalkLabs Big Data Platform Pushgraph is saving government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and disease research organizations time and money while increasing ROI.

If you would like to download the complete copy of CIO Story Big Data Special 2014, feel free to share the link below.

http://ciostory.com/magazine/September-2014/BigData20/

ChalkLabs: Carrier-Agnostic Logistics Solutions

Considering a Cloud-Computing Platform

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In your eyes, what might be the most important part of making your business excel? Using customer input and activity online to design individualized plans for future gains may be the new way to go.

Before data became “Big Data”, companies in banking, medicine, marketing, and service industries alike relied on customer feedback via website commentary or reviews received from customer service employees within the company for knowledge of any issues pertaining to products being offered. Now you may want to consider a better way to ensure customer satisfaction.

Tracking and monitoring customer activity and the use of predictive analytic applications to view your site’s visitors and activeties might help you ensure knowledge of future purchase choices and utilize helpful insight into marketing strategies for the future. While other companies speed ahead using customer data to improve overall business knowledge, you may be considering which tools for predictive analytics you could be benefiting from. Knowing what Cloud-Computing company to choose may be the hardest part of joining the Cloud revolution. Cloud storage is a main-stream business asset for the safety and access of your most important data now. Ensuring that the Cloud-Computing platform that you are evaluating is built by those who have years of experience is a good start. You may want to pick professionals with expertise in building Cloud platforms and providing visualization and analytical direction for your company data. Regarding your company, you might begin by investigating into Pushgraph and the other Cloud-Computing services that we offer at ChalkLabs.

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Sensor Season

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Photo credit: Jeanette May

Photo credit: Jeanette May

What do nurses, soldiers, and the Buffalo Bills all have in common? Radio frequency identification device technology. These tiny yet durable chips will soon be found in NFL  uniforms across all 32 teams by requirement during select sporting events. This September will be the beginning of the season and it is sure to be a thrilling one.

There are 17 stadiums here in the U.S. that are equipped with receivers specific to the radio frequency needed to match the sensors. Once in use during future games they may provide coaches and broadcasters (once authorized by the Competition Committee) with important statistics associated with distance and speed of each individual being followed, et. al. Game-changing advances in technology bring hope of bringing a new competitive advantage to each team. This is only the half of it, however. Once the new data begins pouring in from game to game, how will it be stored and evaluated for predictive benefits? Data is essentially useless without a proper plan for storage and analysis. The Pushgraph platform, for example,  can do far more than just give NFL affiliates information. Once fed data from the player devices and it can turn that information into comparative metrics and visualizations for simple evaluations of player to player statistics. Pushgraph is specifically designed to identify such patterns crucial to advanced planning and decision-making in the future. It will certainly be a different NFL than in years past. (2014 Phys.org)(2014 NFL.com)