Why would we want to build a parallel reality populated by digital twins?

Sure, it sounds cool, yet this “virtual twinning” effectively extends the possibilities of both the “world of atoms and the world of bits“ as HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman eloquently put it in a TED talk which has been viewed over 3.5 million times.

There is already an entire ecosystem emerging around the challenges of sensing, mapping, and replicating objects from the real world into the digital – and vice-versa
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This is not some distant blue-sky thinking. There is already an entire ecosystem emerging around the challenges of sensing, mapping, and replicating objects from the real world into the digital – and vice-versa. In fact, one of the main applications of the 5G connectivity infrastructure rollout will be to mirror physical objects and environments digitally in real-time. That, in turn, would enable XR (extended reality) applications to be built which bring quantifiable value to users.

5G applications that consumers will “get”

“I don’t think the average person really comes close to realizing just how much of a quantum leap we’re talking about,” says Deeyook CEO Gideon Rottem. “They think it will be faster, but literally it will enable things that will make what we have now pale in comparison,” he adds.

Rottem’s Israel-based company has developed a self-learning tracking solution that measures the angles of wireless transmissions – tapping into the existing 1.7 billion wireless access points that already exist globally – to determine positioning of employees, items and assets (within 10 cm) without tapping into a company’s IT network and without invasive personal tracking or data capturing.

These mapping technologies are going to interact with the cloud differently, as it no longer becomes necessary to upload images in order to understand what the user is standing in front of. According to Rottem, once we achieve accurate positioning, we can also create accurate virtual worlds (largely automatically) so the integration between the physical and the digital can become seamless.

These mapping technologies are going to interact with the cloud differently, as it no longer becomes necessary to upload images in order to understand what the user is standing in front of
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A newly released report by research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics revealed that although consumers are intrigued by 5G, speed on its own is not enough to sell them on the idea of upgrading. This is partly because it is difficult to grasp what it will enable them to do. CSPs will need to solve existing pain-points and entice customers with new experiences.

In practical terms, spatial mapping technologies are crucial in enabling the type of integrated applications that not only address practical customer needs but also create these “wow” factors that will prompt mass adoption of 5G. The above research found that what got consumers most excited about the prospect were immersive experiences such as holographic conversations and XR field training.

A newly released report by research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics revealed that although consumers are intrigued by 5G, speed on its own is not enough to sell them on the idea of upgrading
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It’s not a surprise, therefore, to see many companies in the connectivity space embracing immersive technology and content as they seek to bridge this “imagination gap”.

An example of a CSP doing just that is UK mobile giant Three, which recently released a highly produced tongue-in-cheek advert which shows us what a 5G-enabled holographic future could look like.

“Hold on to your crumpets,” says Three in their recent 5G ads.

Many companies in the connectivity space embracing immersive technology and content as they seek to bridge the consumer imagination gap
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Moetsi is a company working to build the spatial mapping infrastructure to make that future happen by offering “sensor stream processing on the edge.” This effectively boils down to processing vast amounts of data in real-time and delivering it in a format that makes sense and is relevant to the context of where it is being applied.

We will see an explosion of XR applications that provide immense value industry and enterprise, as well as mind-blowing experiences for individual consumers
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To illustrate how an application could leverage this, Moetsi co-founder Adam Polak gives an example of someone about to cross a street getting alerted that the car moving towards them isn’t slowing down for the red light. At that point, all our decisions would potentially become augmented and informed by tapping into these edge-processed datastreams, fundamentally changing our relationship with technology, the world around us, and one another.

3D mapping in arts and entertainment

There are use cases already emerging of spatial mapping being applied to create, transform, and augment art. Award-winning immersive content studio HEAVY has partnered with the Marriott hotel group to build a “secret digital garden” at the JW Marriott Anaheim Resort which was  due to open in April. The project leveraged mapping technology from 6D.ai, a company that set out to build  “a 3D map of the world” and has since been acquired by Niantic, the makers of Pokémon GO.

This feature of persistence is key to understanding the value these real-time mapping technologies bring to such experiences. In this case, HEAVY produced a fine art installation blending physical, custom-made sculptures with augmented reality elements to create a serene space where resort guests and visitors can plant their own fantastical trees while enjoying playing among digital caterpillars and butterflies.

There are use cases already emerging of spatial mapping being applied to create, transform, and augment art
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What makes the zen-like experience more than a bit of fun, however, is the narrative backdrop for the magical plant’s evolution from sapling to tree. By performing the digital meditations, each guest will figuratively transform into a different kind of tree, personalized around their choices, which can then be further nurtured over time like a flora version of Tamagotchi. This means that the way users interact with and nurture their trees will affect how it develops, and consequently what type of experience each person generates and enjoys.

How will this technology come to life?

Improving the speed at which connected devices can stream information to an authoritative server will be a crucial piece of that puzzle according to Polak, as improvements in networking such as 5G will help reduce the latency and increase the amount of sensors that can communicate in a local area, something that the current generation of networking infrastructure simply cannot cope with.

“The engineering challenge is enormous: being able to interpret any sensor data correctly in a manner that can be used by application developers to provide value to end-users, basically not only seeing, but understanding anything a device can sense in the world,” Polak adds.”

So, are we there yet? Well, yes and no. A lot of this technology already exists but it is hampered by the fact that nearly every XR developer has to roll out their own solutions to build cross-platform applications that can be shared with all users.

According to Polak, initiatives like OpenXR are addressing the problem of having to build separate implementations for ARKit, ARCore, and MRTK (Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Toolkit) by enabling developers to access XR device data through a single interface.

A lot of this technology already exists but it is hampered by the fact that nearly every XR developer has to roll out their own solutions to build cross-platform applications that can be shared with all users
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Once we arrive at that convergence of 5G connectivity and the ability to interact with digitized objects in platform-agnostic experiences that are embedded in our own physical reality, our world as we know it will never be the same. We will see an explosion of XR applications that provide immense value industry and enterprise, as well as mind-blowing experiences for individual consumers.

So while wrapping your head around the concept of building a “Mirror World” might be difficult at first, once it clicks into place we’re likely to wonder how we ever settled for such an ordinary reality in the first place.

This article was originally published on Futurithmic

#SpatialMapping technologies are crucial in enabling the type of integrated applications that not only address practical customer needs but also create these WOW factors that will prompt mass adoption of #5G. https://t.co/2wC9FhIFdq pic.twitter.com/vnsLln2VPY

— Futurithmic (@futurithmic) May 1, 2020

Tech Trends offers a broad range of Digital Consultancy services to guide companies, individuals, and brands in effectively leveraging existing and emerging technologies in their business strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a XR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Digitizing our Existence appeared first on Tech Trends.

By Margaret Heffernan

The hard truth is that much in life is, and always will be, unpredictable – and we’re better off accepting that than falling for propaganda
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“We can win a complete victory over this virus,” Zhang Hanhui, the Chinese ambassador to Russia, recently declared, adding that in Hubei, “the disease will be liquidated next month”. This is propaganda masquerading as prediction, as it often does. People fall for it because predictions like this are comforting, even when they’re wrong. But it’s fear, not his knowledge, that makes anyone believe him. The hard truth is that much in life is, and always will be, unpredictable – and we’re better off accepting that than falling for propaganda, however optimistic it might be.

They might all look the same , but there is no predictive profile of an epidemic
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Epidemics are scary because they don’t follow predictable patterns. They might look the same but there is no predictive profile of an epidemic. There is just one certainty: that they will break out. After that, uncertainty rules: we don’t know what disease, in what country or when. New strains of diseases appear constantly; since the 1970s, new pathogens have been emerging at an unprecedented rate of more than one per year, and in a world of global travel, they move fast. Different geographies need different kinds of response. What works in one place, with one disease, might not work somewhere else. So these crises take us by surprise, even when we know something is coming.

What works in one place, with one disease, might not work somewhere else. So these crises take us by surprise, even when we know something is coming
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Technology can help, of course – not in predicting epidemics but in identifying them fast when they start. Artificial intelligence created by the Canadian firm, Blue Dot, analyzed masses of data on animal and plant disease outbreaks, together with global news reports, and was able to identify the outbreak of what has become known as COVID-19 a full week before the Center for Disease Control announced the appearance of a new flu-like disease.

Applying AI to global flight data generated accurate predictions about where and how the disease would spread
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Applying AI to global flight data also generated generally accurate predictions about where and how the disease would spread. Because treating epidemics is always a race against time, this represents a meaningful improvement in speed once an infectious disease has emerged. Like all applications of AI, it is only as good as the data on which it is based, which in epidemics can be tricky because each one is unique. Scientists and health care workers are still needed to analyze findings and diagnose patients. And AI doesn’t change our inability to predict epidemics before the pathogen shows up.

Technology can help, not so much in predicting epidemics but in identifying them fast when they start
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Spotting the outbreak is just the beginning. The holy grail in every epidemic is a vaccine to stop a disease from spreading. The development of vaccine candidates is time and labour-intensive and also unpredictable; many fail. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness began work on new vaccines for beta coronaviruses in 2016, so they aren’t now starting from scratch. The speed of genome mapping has hugely accelerated vaccine development so that researchers already know the genes and the molecular structure of the protein that gets the virus into human cells. Sharing that information with research teams around the world accelerates discovery.

AI doesn’t change our inability to predict epidemics before the pathogen shows up
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But it’s still slower than anyone would like because each new vaccine has to be tested, injected into animals to see if they develop any immune response. Some won’t work, some may cause side effects worse than the disease. Paradoxically, epidemics sometimes die out before the vaccine is ready for testing; that means the drug has to wait until the next epidemic – if it happens to be exactly the same disease – before it can be tested and evaluated on humans. That’s one reason it took so many years to produce a successful Ebola vaccine.

Scientists and health care workers are still needed to analyze findings and diagnose patients
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Technology has now accustomed human beings to expect accurate prediction of just about everything: when the Uber arrives, how long the journey takes, whether you’ll like a book, or movie or meal. So the idea that some things in life can’t be predicted feels counter-intuitive. For decades, tech innovation has relied on the belief that, with massive amounts of data, together with the tools to interrogate it, everything ultimately proves predictable. Real-life proves otherwise.

Focus efficiently only on what you can predict and you risk managing the flukes out of the system
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Terrorism isn’t always defined by profiles or patterns; terrorists know that randomness protects them. Surveillance produces more data than ever before, but it’s hard to find what you don’t know to look for until it’s too late. As head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller was aghast when, under President Clinton, the Americans abandoned human intel, thinking that technology would give them all the information they needed. After 9/11, that strategy changed, an acknowledgment that human intelligence was still crucial in finding new patterns in new places, previously never considered meaningful.

Technology has accustomed human beings to expect accurate prediction of just about everything, so the idea that some things in life can’t be predicted feels counter-intuitive
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Similarly in pure science, it’s been routine for politicians to call for greater efficiency to produce strategically desirable breakthroughs. But attempts to use data mining, to identify the hot spots from which such triumphs emerge, identified little more than scientists themselves already knew; it’s their job and passion to stay alert to developments in their field. Trying to build the perfect profile of the superstar scientist failed too. Scientific discoveries exist across a spectrum, from the predictable (when it became technically feasible to decode the human genome) to flukes (like microwave radiation.) Focus efficiently only on what you can predict and you risk managing the flukes out of the system.

The company that continues to recommend to me the books I’ve already written is so confident of its data analysis that it wants to send me what it predicts
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But ultimate predictability is the holy grail of much technology. It’s the faith implicit in Amazon’s anticipatory shipping patent. The company that continues to recommend to me the books I’ve already written is so confident of its data analysis that it wants to send me what it predicts I will be aching to read. Closer examination reveals seeds of doubt; I won’t have to return the first few they get wrong. But the only really predictable aspect of the offering is that I’ll forget, or be too lazy, to return the ones I never wanted. This isn’t prediction; it is forcing customers to do what the business plan requires.

Uncertainty is endemic to life
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Uncertainty is endemic to life. Will the COVID-19 epidemic be over by March? The best models of disease will only provide probabilities, not absolutes. Soothsayers always have their own agendas, so we would do better to prepare

The post Expert View: Dealing with the Coronavirus in an Uncertain Future appeared first on Tech Trends.

How the Lush Spa Experiment transformed biofeedback data into meditative art.

“At Lush we’re all about feelings, from the way we work to the products and experiences we deliver to our customers and audience,” Adam Goswell, UX & Technology at Lush, tells me as he explains what prompted them to make the Lush Spa Experiment video I’m watching.

The data captured shows a clear correlation between the treatment and biometric response
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A partnership between Lush and The Mill the project involved capturing and visualizing biofeedback data to show people the effects that a spa treatment has on their bodies and minds.

“The data captured was fascinating. It shows a clear correlation between the treatment and the subject’s biometric response. You can actually see the moments when a sound or touch elicited a shift in brain wave which then triggers a reaction in breath and heart rate,” says Creative Director Carl Addy, who headed up the project at the Mill.

This project has been a process of experimentation
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“What started as a film to build awareness around the spa treatments has turned into an iterative exploration of how we can visualize the bodies reactions to varying stimuli within the treatment,” he explains. More recently, they extended the idea into a physical space – which I experienced at the Lush Creative Showcase, where people could observe their heartbeat as it triggered a lighting display. “This gets really interesting as the act itself affects the heartbeat by slowing it down as one focuses on the display.”

We wanted to create an emotive film that is driven by data rather than fixate on the data itself
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Although the feedback they captured – things like heartbeats, breath, and brainwave patterns – could be used scientifically, the primary objective of this first project was simply to visualize the data in a beautiful way, similarly to projects such as The Art of Data which we wrote about last year.

“We wanted to create an emotive film that is driven by data rather than fixate on the data itself. Our main criteria was to depict a correlation between the choreography of the treatment and the data, to see if the intention of the spa was successful.”

Harnessing a user’s biometric readings could lead to better recommendations and experiences
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Goswell adds that Lush has also been considering how such biometric data can be used to enhance the customer journey, but they are very mindful of the potential privacy implications of using such intimate data.

“If we can take a read on someone’s feeling and change it for the better and report that result to them that would be amazing….” However, he stresses the need to carefully consider the ethics of using personal biometric data, and ensuring it is clear to users from the onset what will happen to it.

You can check out this hypnotic experiential video for yourself below:

Tech Trends felt compelled to try some of the Lush Spa treatments in the name of research
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But while this is all well and good, purely in the name of scientific research Tech Trends also felt compelled to collect first-hand data by having some of those Lush Spa treatments ourselves.

Thus it was that myself and our Digital Arts Correspondent Naomi Hepwork bravely volunteered to take one for the team and head down to Bath, where Lush’s newly refurbished shop houses extensive Spa facilities in its sizeable basement. I know, it’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.

My treatment – The Spell - was a most relaxing blend of a pedicure, reflexology and head massage, delivered – as all Lush Spa treatments are - to a specially composed soundtrack
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My own treatment – The Spell – was a most relaxing blend of pedicure, reflexology and head massage, delivered – as all Lush Spa treatments are – to a specially composed soundtrack.

There were many original and interesting aspects to the treatment, but one that really stuck with me was that before we went into the room – as we sat at the wonderfully decorated farmhouse kitchen area chatting and filling out the usual form about allergies, preferences and medical conditions – I was given a fountain pen and ink pot, and asked to write down a worry on a scrap of parchment. This was then ceremoniously burned in a little kettle.

I was given a fountain pen and ink pot, and asked to write down a worry on a scrap of parchment
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These little touches were everywhere: Antique books, the beautifully delicate teacup where they made me a fresh lemongrass and mint tea, the bathroom brimming with products we were encouraged to try… I am seriously picky and borderline OCD where it comes to my spa treatments, and I tend to notice the tiniest things. I seriously could not spot a single area that did not shine with care and careful consideration. The Lush Spa is clearly a labour of love.

If they had been monitoring our biofeedback afterwards it probably would have shown one flat and happy line
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I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed
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As for my colleague, who was in great need of a pampering break from a lengthy spell of baby-induced sleep deprivation, she dove straight into an elaborate treatment which is exclusive to the Bath Spa, and… Well, I’ll let her tell you for herself…

What could be more uplifting in the dead of winter than a visit to Bath to try out the Lush spa?

Lush have eight spa locations, in which you can have a variety of highly customised or location specific treatments. We went into the Lush store on Union Street and were greeted at the door by friendly staff, then ushered into the basement which has been transformed into the most extraordinary setting – a fully furnished country kitchen with a corridor leading off to a suite of treatment rooms, all created with beautiful detail, something like a cross between your most tasteful friend’s house and a really high quality immersive theatre experience.

 

I had opted for ‘Tales of Bath’, a head and shoulder massage, followed by a bath, followed by a body massage, and it was like no other treatment I’ve ever received. First of all, the therapist was really top drawer, obviously highly trained and confident. She set me at ease straight away in the pre-treatment chat, and reduced me immediately to a state of near torpor as she gently but thoroughly unkinked my dodgy shoulders. The sound track for my treatment was custom made and recorded in caves under the city. As I lay in the bath, with an absolutely vast, light-up Lush bath bomb, the music gave way to a fairy tale about the origins of bath which was both calming and held my attention. I can’t emphasise enough how much care has gone into every aspect of these experiences; the Lush website talks about sending two musicians down the length of India solely to develop the music for their ‘Karma’ treatment and it was clear that this same amount of attention had been paid to every detail of the spa.

It is a uniquely creative, comfortable, multisensory experience, NOTHING like other spas
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After the bath I lay on a heated massage table for my full body massage, which seemed to synchronise with the music and was totally unhurried. It felt like every muscle in my body had been comprehensively pummelled without being painful at all. We then re-convened for tea and a chat with the staff who again seemed to have endless time for us.

 

All in all, with its immersive themed treatments, bespoke décor and custom designed sound, this was as much art installation as traditional spa experience. Now that I’ve been to the Lush spa, others will seem pretty shallow by comparison, all clichéd ‘luxury’ décor and dreadful piped music. It is a uniquely creative, comfortable, multisensory experience, NOTHING like other spas.

It’s safe to say that had they been monitoring our biofeedback after our respective treatments, it probably would have shown two flat and happy lines. I can’t remember the last time I felt so happy and relaxed.

The Lush Spa is clearly a labour of love
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Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasioon Twitter.

Naomi Hepworth is Tech Trends’ Digital Arts and BabyTech correspondent. You can follow her on Twitter @NaomiHepworth and connect with her on LinkedIn.

The post Feel-Good Data appeared first on Tech Trends.

Retailers need a robust tech strategy to confront the rising cost of fraud.

Digital technology has brought a relentless wave of innovation, making it easier for customers all over the world to purchase what they want with a variety of payment methods – from credit cards to mobile wallets and even cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. While these innovations bring welcome convenience for the consumer and broaden the market for retailers, they have also driven sharp increases in the volume of fraudulent transactions merchants and issuers are subject to.

Retail fraud is a growing issue for merchants, who are increasingly looking for solutions that will help them deal with the problem in the long-term
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As more consumers opt to do their shopping online, accurately tracking purchases, verifying identity, and matching transaction data to customer information has become a great challenge. This is especially true for companies that do not have robust procedures in place for collecting and cross-referencing such data.

Retailers are keen to find solutions that tackle fraud without being too aggressive and putting customers off
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According to a recent CNBC article, retailers list fraudulent returns as a top concern, especially around the holiday season. Retail fraud is a growing issue for merchants, who are increasingly looking for solutions that will help them deal effectively with the problem in the long-term.

Loss Prevention Magazine estimates that return fraud has proved a significant drain for retailer profits this past holiday season. Of the $9 billion in losses attributable to return fraud last year, $2 billion took place during the holiday season, with more than 5 percent of holiday returns in 2017 expected to be fraudulent.

Due to the lack of visibility and direct customer engagement in online transactions, retailers are challenged to verify a shopper’s identity. Furthermore, there is often a lag between the time an order is placed and when that transaction is confirmed, opening the door for more errors or fraudulent activity.

“The larger volume of sales in the November and December months, especially around peak dates such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is invariably followed by a spike in cardholder disputes and chargebacks,” says Matthew Katz, CEO of Verifi, a leading global provider of end-to-end payment and risk management and card not present fraud and chargeback solutions.

Due to the lack of visibility and direct customer engagement in online transactions, retailers are challenged to verify a shopper's identity
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“For retailers,” Katz explains, “these chargebacks mean not only incurring fees from card networks and acquirers, but also losing holiday stock, absorbing additional shipping costs, and losing customer trust and future sales.

Of the $9 billion in losses attributable to return fraud last year, $2 billion took place during the holiday season
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“As consumers analyze the debt they’ve incurred during the holiday period, billing confusion and so-called ‘friendly fraud’ – where customers experience buyer’s remorse and dispute a legitimate transaction by going directly to the card issuer to obtain a refund – become an increasingly costly problem for both merchants and issuers,” he adds.

This issue continues to get worse. According to a 2017 report by Appriss Retail, total merchandise returns accounted for more than $351 billion in lost sales for U.S. retailers. To put that revenue in some perspective, the number comes close to the estimated 2017 federal budget deficit of $400 billion. Retail fraud and abuse accounted for a substantial share of these transactions – $17.6 to $22.8 billion in the United States.

This brings inevitable, and undesirable, consequences to consumers and the economy in general, as retailers are ultimately forced to offset losses by raising prices or reducing costs. This can in turn cause economic slowdown or stagnation, and ultimately lead to job losses. Last year alone, per the Appriss Retail report, return fraud cost U.S. retailers and workers between 596,000 and 775,000 jobs. Additionally, these fraudulent activities also have a significant negative impact in government tax revenues, with retail revenue losses costing states a total of $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion in lost sales taxes.

As more consumers opt to do their shopping online, accurately tracking purchases, verifying identity, and matching transaction data to customer information has become a great challenge
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Atlanta-based data analytics provider, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, recently surveyed over 650 risk and fraud executives from retail organizations. Their findings indicated that the level of fraud as a percentage of retailers’ revenue rose from 1.47 to 1.58 percent in the last year alone. It is little wonder that retailers recognize this problem as one they need to address with dedicated resources and a consistent integrated strategy.

Safeguarding the customer experience is a crucial consideration for retailers looking to implement fraud-tackling technology
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The LexisNexis study found that, although many retailers were investing in fraud monitoring, the results weren’t always effective. Companies found it difficult to strike a balance between being protective and turning away genuine customers and transactions. Retailers are keen to strike a balance between these two priorities, and to find solutions that tackle fraud without being too aggressive and putting customers off.

According to Kimberly Sutherland – a senior director of LexisNexis’ fraud and identity management strategy – many merchants don’t quite know how to achieve this balance. The problem she sees is that businesses often resort to a one-size-fits-all approach to fighting fraud, and they end up by deploying a limited set of solutions that are not up to the challenge. “These less advanced and less sophisticated legacy solutions do not appear to be working, given the sharp rise in costs and volume of successful fraud attempts,” she remarks.

According to Katz, retailing needs more effective data-sharing solutions in order to prevent such large-scale fraud without denting customer relations. “By leveraging emerging technologies, we can equip merchants and issuers with the right information, at the right place, and at the right time. This helps protect hard-earned revenue for merchants, and also helps them provide better service to consumers – allowing genuine fraud to be addressed quickly and more effectively, thus improving customer trust, retention, and loyalty.”

By providing the issuer with merchant information and robust order data – featuring customer identity and intent of sale – early on in the dispute process, it is possible to significantly help prevent such losses, argues Katz. He adds that issuing banks that neglect to include merchants early in the dispute process generate an unnecessarily high chargeback volume. Yet there is still a lack of awareness in the industry about which solutions are readily available to help them mitigate that problem.

Connecting the merchant and the issuer early in the dispute process can prevent the loss of millions of dollars in sales
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Integrating the sort of technology that companies like Verifi provide as a tailored service to merchants and issuers can help to dramatically reduce instances of fraud – and indeed help identify friendly fraud, thus saving the sale – while also improving customer relations. Through leveraging and cross-referencing of robust data, customers can enjoy a better overall experience of quick and hassle-free returns and claim legitimate refunds without ever feeling as if they’re being unfairly questioned or targeted.

Integrating the sort of technology that companies like Verifi provide as a tailored service to merchants and issuers can help to dramatically reduce instances of fraud
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Safeguarding the customer experience is a crucial consideration for retailers looking to implement fraud-tackling technology into their processes, as modern shoppers view flexible return policies as a right rather than a privilege. Customers might refuse to shop with retailers that choose to implement restrictions and checks on returns. Draconian policies could permanently cost a merchant legitimate customers, and therefore prove to be just as damaging as the mounting cost of retail fraud.

“Consumer awareness of their chargeback rights has increased,” says Julie Conroy, research director for Boston-based analyst firm Aite Group. “We’ve seen a doubling of the term ‘chargeback’ on Google for the past five years.”

In their research, Aite Group found that card issuers often give customers varying degrees of leeway when it comes to accepting evidence for granting a chargeback. Retailers complained to the firm that this lack of consistency led to mixed results from issuer to issuer. Chargebacks protect cardholders from fraud and give them recourse if goods are not as advertised, but the fact that this process is now easier for consumers also means that it is increasingly being abused.

“No one likes getting on a 13-minute call with their bank to dispute a charge,” Conroy says. “If you can allow them to do this digitally, you’re providing a better customer experience.” The other issue is cost: the average call is 13 minutes. “For some of these disputes, the consumer could be on the phone for 30 minutes,” she says. “That’s really expensive. The aggregate cost for U.S. issuers alone for call centers to field these calls is $2 billion a year.”

This is one of the reasons why so many merchants are now incorporating Software as a Services (SaaS) into their existing systems. Verifi’s Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN), for example, is an innovative platform that enables issuers at the initiation of a dispute to redirect customer disputes to the merchant. In doing so, the chargeback process is paused up to 72 hours, allowing the merchant time to assess and resolve the dispute directly with their customer before it becomes a chargeback. In 2017, CDRN handled over 19 million disputes with an average 88% successful resolution rate on actionable disputes.

Yet even as retailers move towards embracing these comprehensive, high-tech fraud-prevention systems, offenders will inevitably continue to devise ways of taking advantage of any available loopholes. This is why it is important for SaaS providers such as Verifi to constantly improve their systems to stay ahead of the game. According to Katz, to address such needs, Verifi launched Order Insight in 2017 – an advanced collaboration platform that further applies this principle of intelligently connecting data from merchants to issuers and cardholders to access accurate and timely purchase data.

“Order Insight is the next phase in the evolution of our services, where all parties are connected to work together for mutual benefit. By being able to share and access data – such as purchase item description (size, color, style), date of purchase, merchant’s name and contact information, customer’s device used, IP address, etc. – the volume of chargebacks can be significantly reduced. This results in fewer fees and penalties imposed on merchants – but most importantly in the retention of sales and improved customer relations, all of which translate into increased profits.”

fraudulent activities also have a significant negative impact in government tax revenues, with retail revenue losses costing states a total of $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion in lost sales taxes
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Katz explains that “Order Insight enables issuers to access shared merchant data in near real-time at the initiation of a customer dispute. In addition to the goods or services in dispute, detailed information on the cardholder’s transaction history, previous disputes filed, refunds issued, and account delinquency are also instantly available, allowing each issue that arises to be efficiently dealt with to the benefit of all parties.”

The device (and type) that was used to make the purchase can be identified, in addition to the name, username, IP address, location, as well as phone number and email address included in the merchant’s customer profile to match the unique cardholder information with the bank’s system. Customers, too, have access to their order details through the issuer-hosted mobile or online banking application, providing immediate answers to a transaction query for a quick and painless resolution. If a transaction isn’t recognized, then the merchant name, address, customer service number and email address – as well as terms and conditions, warranty information and return policies – will be provided to resolve confusion created by vague descriptions on a statement. Whenever a dispute arises, each party will have access to the information to determine the legitimacy of the sale, thus reducing the impact of issues such as friendly fraud.

“Shared data can be beneficial in multiple fraud scenarios, and friendly fraud is no exception,” says Conroy, who believes that collaboration solutions, such as Verifi’s, are a crucial part of the industry’s fraud-fighting toolkit. “Connecting the merchant and the issuer early in the dispute process can prevent the loss of millions of dollars in sales,” agrees Katz, and that’s certainly something that merchants and issuers in an increasingly competitive and technology-driven retail landscape will need.

This article was originally published on World Commerce Review

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter

The post Tackling Retail Fraud with Technology appeared first on Tech Trends.

Researchers from music and engineering teams are working together to turn big data into sound.

A collaboration between two professors – one of music and one of engineering – at Virginia Tech resulted in the creation of a new platform for data analysis that makes it possible to understand data better by turning it into sound.

A collaboration between music and engineering professors at Virginia Tech resulted in the creation of a new platform for data analysis
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This is a pioneering approach to studying spatially distributed data. Instead of placing information into a visual context to show patterns or correlations – meaning, data visualization – the work will use an aural environment to leverage the natural affordances of the space and the user’s location within the sound field.

This is a pioneering approach to studying spatially distributed data
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The earth’s hemisphere is rendered as a half-dome (denoted in red) inside the Cube using immersive spatial sound. Each of the dome’s rectangular areas are assigned to one speaker that varies its loudness, pitch, timbre, and pulse rate to reflect changes in the atmospheric data

The work combines elements of music, geospatial science, computer science, and human-computer interaction
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Funded by the National Science Foundation, the work combines elements of music, geospatial science, computer science, and human-computer interaction. It’s the first time a research project led by a faculty member from the university’s School of Performing Arts working in collaboration with the College of Engineering

Instead of placing information into a visual context to show patterns or correlations – meaning, data visualization – the work uses an aural environment to leverage the natural affordances of the space
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Ivica Ico Bukvic, associate professor of composition and multimedia in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and Greg Earle, professor of electrical and computer engineering, used infrastructure at the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology to investigate how immersive sound can be used to develop our understanding of complex systems.

Combining performance space, research laboratory, and studio, the Cube is a collaborative research facility at Virginia Tech where researchers, composers, and musicians are uncovering possibilities in immersive sound
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According to Bukvic, data sonification – which involves converting non-auditory information into sound, is a relatively unexplored area of research, yet provides a unique perspective for exploring data. The human auditory system has a superior ability to recognize temporal changes and patterns, making sonification a powerful tool for studying complex systems.

“Identifying new time and space correlations between variables often leads to breakthroughs in the physical sciences,” explained Dr. Bukvic, who also serves as a senior fellow for the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. “It makes sense that we would want to go beyond two-dimensional graphical models of information and make new discoveries using senses other than our eyes.

Titled “Spatial Audio Data Immersive Experience (SADIE),” the project is the first large-scale endeavor focusing on immersive spatially-aware sonified data using a high-density loudspeaker array. The research will focus on the earth’s upper atmospheric system, which features physical variables that are spatially and temporally rich. Each of the data sets associated with this system will be represented by distinct sound properties, such as amplitude, pitch, and volume.

The human auditory system has a superior ability to recognize temporal changes and patterns, making sonification a powerful tool for studying complex systems
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These sounds will be played through a 129-loudspeaker spatially distributed immersive sound system in the Cube, located in the Moss Arts Center. A combination of performance space, research laboratory, and studio, the Cube is a collaborative research facility at Virginia Tech where researchers, composers, and musicians are uncovering new possibilities in immersive sound.

Using the Cube’s motion capture system, similar to the interface imagined for the film Minority Report, participants will be able to navigate the sonified data using a gesture-driven interface
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Using the Cube’s motion capture system, similar to the interface imagined for the film Minority Report, participants will be able to navigate the sonified data using a gesture-driven interface, allowing them to rewind, fast-forward, rotate, zoom, amplify, speed up, and slow down the data playback. The system will also be used to capture user study data.

“Allowing the brain’s innate signal processing mechanisms to identify specific features in complex data sets is a logical way to link computational sciences with human sensory perceptions. This merging of technology and nature could further current analysis techniques and foster new breakthroughs involving complex systems in science, with the potential to produce new technologies designed to spur creativity,” concludes Dr. Bukvic, who says that if this approach to experiencing data can be proven to improve people’s understanding of complex relationships in physical systems, it could be applied to other fields of study: “It could have applications to fields such as thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and aeronautical engineering; help advance visualizations and virtual reality systems; and create interdisciplinary bridges between scientific communities, including music, computing, and the physical sciences.”

This article was originally published on The Next Web

Turning big data into sound https://t.co/7WhHBxASzH

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) February 18, 2018

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post The Sound of Big Data appeared first on Tech Trends.

What will be the biggest and most disruptive technology trends of 2018? We talk to industry experts to find out.

Bias-check will become the new spell-check
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Expanding the Immersive Spectrum

We expect 2018 to be a big year for the development and roll-out of second generation hardware for VR/AR such as the Oculus Go and Magic Leap’s Mixed Reality headset – set to be better, lighter and cheaper than ever before,” says Aurelien Simon, Head of Immersive, Digital Catapult.

Just as importantly, however, there will also be increased buy-in from the creative industries in terms of immersive content production: “We’ve seen huge strides in creative content over 2017 and I expect this push for quality over quantity to continue next year. Big production studios are likely to increase their interest and presence in the VR space, while VR games production looks to take a step forward with hotly anticipated games like Doom and Fallout 4 released in VR.”

Trisa Thompson, Chief Responsibility Officer at Dell Technologies also believes that we’ll be donning our AR headsets in 2018 as the technology becomes ubiquitous and increasingly integrates with our daily routines.

“It’s happening in pockets today. But over the next year, VR and AR will cogently bring world issues into our personal reality. Time, money, and geography will no longer be inhibitors to experiencing a different environment, community or perspective.”

Global analyst firm CCS Insight says these technologies are likely to blur and become different dimensions of the “extended reality” spectrum, and the hardware releases of 2018 will reflect that trend: “We expect to see many early examples of augmented reality glasses but also several stand-alone virtual reality headsets.”

2018 will be a big year for the development and roll-out of second-generation hardware for VR and AR
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The Next Era of Human-Machine Partnership report published by Dell and the Institute for the Future (IFTF) also predicts that immersive technologies will increasingly be used to counterbalance our inherent human prejudices. ‘Bias check,’ according to Brian Reaves, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Dell, will become the next spell check as we’ll start applying VR in job interview settings to remove identifying traits, leveraging machine learning and AI to indicate key points of discrimination and program positive bias into our processes.

Immersive technologies will increasingly be used to counterbalance our inherent human prejudices
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Data-Centric Society

According to Nesta’s latest survey, 39 percent of adults say they do not mind sharing their personal information with companies, but 60 percent say they are frustrated by how much of their information has become public. 76 percent of adults around the world say they find it creepy when companies know too much about them.

“Big Data claims to be able to interpret our behaviours, which in theory should help consumers. But with Big Data can come Big Bias, and once personal information is relinquished, all consumers can do is hope companies use it responsibly,” they conclude.

Yet data experts predict that 2018 will mark the year when data starts to become a powerful tool for consumers, as regulators catch up with the data revolution and citizens are put in charge of their data. Accenture’s Fjord Trends 2018 also outlines how technologies such as Blockchain will potentially play a part in creating greater data transparency.

39 percent of adults say they do not mind sharing their personal information with companies, but 60 percent are frustrated by how much of that information becomes public
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In its latest report, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) indicates that data is a vital component for innovation and stresses the importance of building a broader data infrastructure and managing it responsibly for the greater good.

“Greater access to open data enables greater innovation,” according to the Open Data Institute (ODI) which predicts that over time we will see data helping to create ever greater social and economic value in sectors such as public services, retail and banking.

Vicki Cantrell, Retail Transformation Officer, at Aptos says that retailers will need to leverage data to become more customer-centric. “Analysis tools that deliver actionable data and enable organisations to correctly respond to changing conditions with actionable and repeatable processes at the point of service – whether in-store or online – will be key,” she says.

Banks are recognizing the value of collaboration and outsourcing risk solutions to companies such as Verifi to prevent fraud and improve customer experience
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According to Market Intelligence agency IDC, banks are also increasingly partnering with financial technology companies via open APIs, driven partly by new banking regulations such as PSD2, which involve sharing of customer data.

Retailers will need to leverage data to become more customer-centric
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In 2018 the EU will also begin to fine midmarket firms that violate General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). According to Bill Weber, Principal Security Strategist at eSentire, with the influx of data breaches over the past two years, businesses will have to take the necessary steps to meet the increasing number of cybersecurity requirements set forth by regulatory bodies.

“Regulators are encouraging open banking initiatives, and banks are having to open up their systems via APIs to third parties in providing access to account information and to initiate payments,” a report by consulting firm Capgemini concludes, adding that this will increasingly facilitate collaboration between banks and FinTech companies bringing innovation to industry.

Banks, the report concludes, have a burning need to innovate in this fast-evolving landscape, but have traditionally not been very successful in fostering digital innovation through in-house efforts.

With the influx of data breaches over the past two years, businesses will have to take steps to meet increased cybersecurity requirements set by regulatory bodies
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Matthew Katz, CEO of Verifi – a FinTech company providing payment and risk management solutions to banks and merchants – agrees that factors such as the regulatory impacts of PSD2 and strong customer authentication put an increased onus on issuers and acquirers to better manage risk. He believes, however, that banks are increasingly recognizing the value of collaboration, and outsourcing those solutions to companies such as Verifi to not only prevent issues such as fraud and chargebacks, but to deliver a better overall customer experience.

Banks need to innovate but have traditionally not been very successful in fostering digital innovation in-house
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Smart Cities and Borderless Living

In 2018, we could also start seeing drones delivering not only parcels, but broader societal benefits
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Smart Mobility and automation have been big trends in 2017 as societies continued to cope with the rising demands of urbanization. This is set to continue in the coming year as 87 percent of consumers believe cities need better transportation options according to a recent survey conducted by Ford.

87 percent of consumers believe cities need better transportation options
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In 2018, we could also start seeing drones delivering not only parcels, but broader societal benefits. A report by innovation foundation Nesta predicts “cities in Britain will make the laws, rules and infrastructure decisions for drones to take off, creating an airborne version of the Highway Code.”

Smart Mobility and automation have been big trends in 2017 as societies continued to cope with the rising demands of urbanization
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Simulation tools will also enable governments to test out their policies in virtual environments before rolling them out in the real world according to Nesta’s report, which outlines a broader trend towards borderless identity and citizenship.

“We will see the rise of experiments in e-Residency as governments begin to make the nation state virtual. Citizens may be able to choose to educate their children in Finland, access healthcare from South Korea and run businesses in New Zealand, without leaving the comfort of their homes.”

IIoT and the Next Industrial Revolution

As digital fades from being stand-alone to being embedded in our physical world, our relationships with everything around us will be redefined
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In November 2017 the UK government concluded a review addressing how the country could leverage innovation to revitalise business and industry. It outlined how emergent technologies like IoT, Machine Learning and AI have made the transition away from being hypothesized innovations to practical solutions across a broad range of sectors.

“The next step for manufacturers will be to interconnect every step of the manufacturing process to create seamless and more efficient systems by utilising IoT technology to sharpen their competitive edge and better meet customer demands,” explains Richard Bradbury, UK&I Managing Director at Hitachi Vantara.

This trend is broadly defined under the umbrella of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or Industry 4.0 and its transformative potential for the global economy and society is just as great – if not greater – than that of previous industrial revolutions. Definitely one to watch in 2018.

The transformative potential of Industry 4.0 for the global economy and society is just as great – if not greater – than that of previous industrial revolutions
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Symbiotic Tech

“The more our devices and voice-assistants are ingrained in our daily lives, the more we will turn to them as our moral compass — for advice. As our technology blends into our habits and is able to read and learn our emotions, fears and anxieties, it will tell us to stop wasting less food or remind us to call mom more often. We can expect to see a rise of people objecting to the moral judgments imposed by the likes of Alexa,” reads the Sparks&Honey 2018 Trends Brief, which goes even further, predicting that we’ll soon connect our bodies using technology in increasingly visceral ways.

“We’ve grown comfortable enough with the pervasive use of technology to let it become part of us via implants, such as bio-tattoos or microchip implants for banking and biometrics. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is on a mission to connect our brains to the cloud and Emily Borghard is now recognized as one of the world’s first true cyborgs, thanks to a Neuropace chip implanted in her brain,” it concludes

The more our devices and voice-assistants are ingrained in our daily lives, the more we will turn to them as our moral compass
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“As digital fades from being stand-alone to being embedded in our physical world, our relationships with everything around us will be redefined,” agrees Baiju Shah, global co-lead, Fjord and managing director, Accenture Interactive.

Nesta’s research also backs up this view, pointing to the fact that AI is already showing impressive healthcare capabilities such as diagnosing Parkinson’s via audio recordings and cancer via molecules in breath. It predicts that in 2018 one or more of the major technology companies will buy a healthcare provider to turbocharge their efforts in that space. “In combination with new forms of facial recognition, AI is being trained to read minds and moods with increasing accuracy,” is says, adding that we will increasingly see it being used to predict and manage both physical and mental health outcomes.

Tech Trends’  Virtual Reality Consultancy services offers support for companies looking to get a foothold in the growing Mixed Reality spectrum and enhance their brand strategy with immersive technologies.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Looking Forward to 2018 Tech Trends appeared first on Tech Trends.

Teradata’s Art of Analytics project is helping people make an emotional connection with the datasets that rule their world.

In her day-to-day work, Yasmeen Ahmad tackles immensely complex datasets, deploying an arsenal of approaches and methodologies that would sound intimidating to most lay people.

Not many people are able to make sense from complex datasets
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From predictive modelling to text analytics, time series analysis to development of attribution strategies, few people can easily wrap their heads around what such terms mean, and even fewer are capable of drawing actionable insights from them – which is why data scientists such as herself are always in such high demand.

Ahmad worked in the life sciences industry before pivoting to commercial work, where she is now Director of Think Big Analytics, the consulting branch of IT service management company Teradata.

Visualisation is a core component of any data science and analytical project
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The best way help people see the meaning of datasets is to paint them a picture
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Over many years helping clients across a variety of industries to make sense of their data, however, she realised that the best way help them see meaning in those datasets was to literally paint them a picture.

“Visualisation is a core component of any data science and analytical project,” she explains. “It is almost always used at the beginning to understand the datasets you are working with, and can help to quickly identify anomalies, outliers and strong correlations in the data.”

As far as data is concerned, she says, a picture really is worth a thousand words, as visualisation helps to add meaning on top of data that is much easier to assimilate for humans than descriptive words or single numbers and values alone.

Visualisation helps to add meaning on top of data that is much easier to assimilate
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The visualisations supported storytelling around a project
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Her team would therefore routinely include such visuals when they presented their key results to clients, and found that even people who might not be well versed in data science or technology could still connect with them. The visualisations supported storytelling around a project, engaging business stakeholders to understand connections, relationships and associations in the data.

“As more investment goes into data platforms and analytical technologies, the artwork helps to provide a face to this investment. We had business leaders commenting on how beautiful the visualisations were. Colour, shape and layout were all dimensions that were used to convey meaning. The choice of how a visualisation was formed is actually a creative process – like creating a piece of art.”

From there, she explains, it was a short leap to the idea behind the Art of Analytics project, which brings together a range of those visualisation pieces from their previous projects.

Art of Analytics brings together a range of visualisation from previous projects.
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Ahmad believes one of the main strengths of the project is its ability to bring data to life for lay audiences, creating a connection between data insights and observers and bridging the technical gap.

“The visualisations push the human to look beyond individual numbers and values, to thinking about data as a series of connections to be explored. They make it particularly easy to see associations, connections, pathways etc. The art is providing form to the complex fields of big data and data science – making them accessible to a wider audience.

Visualisations push the human to think about data as a series of connections to be explored
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Yet the usefulness of data visualisation is not limited to non-technical people. According to Ahmad, it is also a key component of a data scientist’s toolkit:

“During my life sciences research – I was working in a field where everything was abstracted. The data I analysed often came from human cell samples that could only be seen under microscopes. Hence, collecting data about these samples, analysing it to create insight and then relating the insight back to reality was somewhat difficult. Visualisation was key to help portray not only the insights, but also how they linked to human cells and biology in general.”

Art of Analytics was also an opportunity for Ahmad to bring together those creative and scientific sides. Data science, she says, is actually a highly creative discipline that combines technical know-how with lateral thinking and the ability to tease out stories from complex datasets.

Art and science need to come together to solve the world’s most complex problems
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Data science is actually a highly creative discipline
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“I believe that art and science need to come together to help to solve the world’s most complex problems, and the best data scientists are not only great at statistics, maths and analytical subjects, but are also creative problem solvers who can translate their work into meaningful messaging that connects with their business and commercial audiences.”

This is an on-going project, and there are plans to create new data representations as they work with new datasets they haven’t encountered before.

The emotional connection that people establish with the work highlights the power of data
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Ahmad is also keen to explore how other media such as animation, video and perhaps even VR could help add other dimensions to that work. By creating a video, she says, it would be possible to create another level of emotional connection with audiences, by representing how those relationships have evolved over time.

“We have had senior executives request copies of the Art of Analytics to hang in their office. The emotional connection that people can establish with the work highlights the power of data.”

This article was originally published on The Next Web

Art exhibit shows off the beauty of data https://t.co/Mq8uOvFCGH

— TNW Contributors (@TNWcontributors) November 20, 2017

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Big Data is Beautiful appeared first on Tech Trends.

To leverage Big Data and build an effective Artificial Intelligence infrastructure, enterprises must embrace collaboration.  

Using data smartly can give your business a crucial competitive advantage
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In a digital economy, the rule of thumb tends to be that the smarter your use of data and technology, the more of a competitive edge your business has. A recent report by Teradata, based on over 260 interviews conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne with senior IT and business decision makers, found that there is widespread enthusiasm for adoption of AI, with 80 percent of enterprises reporting that they were already investing in the technology in some capacity, and over 30% planning to expand their investment in the are over the next 36 months.

“C-level executives – namely CIOs and CTOs, maintain they are committed to AI in their enterprise, because of the expected ROI over the next 10 years.” The report therefore concludes that executives will accept those challenges as the long-term benefits clearly outweigh near-term pain. In fact their analysis showed that over a five-year forecast, organisations effectively expected to double their money when investing in AI: For every $1 spent on AI technologies, organisations predicted a return on investment of $1.23 over three years, $1.99 in five years, and $2.87 over a ten-year period.

The Economist – in a phrase that has since become rather cliché – put forward the idea that “data is the new oil,” and World Economic Forum has now designated Big Data as a new kind of economic asset, just like currency or gold.

A study by the MIT Center for Digital Business confirms that data-driven businesses do indeed have the edge. It surveyed 330 leading U.S. Businesses and found that companies that focused strongly on data-driven decision-making had an average of four percentage points higher productivity and six percentage points higher profits.

C-level executives are committed to implementing AI in their enterprise
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Yet as these results indicate, it would perhaps be more accurate to say that data is in fact the new oxygen. Whereas it is still true that businesses that best leverage data and AI will gain a significant competitive advantage, it is probably fair to say that those that fail to make their organisations data-centric will eventually not be able to survive at all in the digital age.

Data is in fact the new oxygen
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While most people agree on the essential role that Artificial Intelligence and Data play in their organisation’s success, there are significant challenges. The overwhelming majority of business leaders surveyed in the Teradata report anticipated major barriers for adoption within their organisation, with roadblocks ranging from an inadequate IT infrastructure to shortage of in-house talent.

The majority of business leaders surveyed predicted significant roadblocks to AI adoption
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In their book The Sentient Enterprise, The evolution of Business Decision Making – launched at the Teradata Partners’s Conference last month – Oliver Ratzesberger (Teradata’s Chief Product Officer) and Mohanbir Sawhney from the McCormick foundation talk about how agility is key to getting the enterprise to the sentient point where it can analyse data and make decisions in real time.

The crux of the problem enterprises face lies not in the difficulty of gathering data, but in extracting insights and then turning these into actionable processes. The reality is that we live in a time of data overload, and companies can easily find themselves trapped in reactive mode, spending most of their time sifting through mountains of data and making decisions only when problems emerge, rather than anticipating them.

The problem enterprises face is in extracting actionable insights from data
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To tackle these problems, enterprises need access to key talent and infrastructure so as to enable the leveraging of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. Increasingly, this is not being done “in house” but rather in partnerships with dedicated providers. These go beyond the traditional SaaS and becomes much more of a “Platform as a Service” model that incorporates complex customization and consultancy services.

All banks need a scalable, advanced analytics platform
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Teradata’s Think Big Analytics team, for example, worked with Danske Bank to create a fraud-detection platform that uses machine leaning to analyse tens of thousands of latent features, scoring millions of online banking transactions in real-time to provide actionable insight regarding true, and false, fraudulent activity. Together, they built a framework within the bank’s existing infrastructure, crating advanced machine learning models to detect fraud within millions of transactions per year, and in peak times, many hundreds of thousands per minute:

“Using AI, we’ve already reduced false positives by 50% and as such have been able to reallocate half the fraud detection unit to higher value responsibilities,” explains Nadeem Gulzar, Head of Advanced Analytics, Danske Bank. “There is evidence that criminals are becoming savvier by the day; employing sophisticated machine learning techniques to attack, so it’s critical to use advanced techniques, such as machine learning to catch them.”

Using AI, Teradata and Danske Bank reduced false positives by 50%
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“All banks need a scalable, advanced analytics platform, as well as a roadmap and strategy for digitalization to bring data science into the organization.” says Mads Ingwar, Client Services Director at Think Big Analytics. “For online transactions, credit cards and mobile payments, banks need a real-time solution – the platform we developed with Danske Bank scores transactions in less than 300 milliseconds. It means that when customers are standing in the supermarket buying groceries, the system can provide immediately actionable insight. This type of solution is one we’ll begin to see throughout organizations in the financial services industry,” he concludes.

Fintech company Verifi, also collaborates with banks and merchants to connect the multi-layered data-streams and combat fraud. The work the company does with is based on optimising data transmissions using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). This is much more efficient because whereas legacy systems rely on processing large numbers of files sent in bulk, APIs can process data in real-time.

Verifi collaborates with banks and merchants to connect multi-layered data-streams
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The Verifi system collates APIs from the merchant shopping cart, customer relationship management (CRM) system, shipping data system, and others, and provides the merchant with better information to handle charges disputed by consumers, allowing them to often resolve the issue directly rather than have the bank issue a chargeback. Merchants benefit as they’re able to control the message to the consumer, and banks are happy because the sale remains and they reduce their operating costs. It is the sort of technology enabled, data-driven system that is a true win-win.

Friendly fraud and chargebacks cost $130 million in Q1 2017 in the U.S.
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One of the problems that such systems help tackle is so-called “friendly fraud,” a term used to describe a situation when a customer experiences “buyer’s remorse” and “tries it on” by putting in a claim directly with their bank or card issuer for a refund, when the sale did in fact legitimately occur. Julie Conroy, Research Director of the Aite Group says that in the U.S. friendly fraud and chargebacks would likely near $130 million, in Q1 2017 alone.

“Since many such claims are relatively low-value, banks will often issue the refund rather than dedicating the resources needed to investigate and dispute each transaction,” explains Matthew Katz, Verifi’s CEO Their research in fact showed that up to 86% of cardholders bypass the merchant and contact their issuing bank directly to dispute or question a charge on their bill. “When you add all of these claims up, it amounts to a huge problem for the industry, with billions of dollars in costs being passed onto merchants, and – ultimately – to the consumer,” he says.

Friendly fraud amounts to a serious problem, confirms a report from Javelin Research estimates that the increase in card-not-present (CNP) fraud and chargeback management now consume between 13% and 20% of operational budget for such retailers.

Even with such resources dedicated to fighting fraud, however, not having the right information on hand in real time can mean that businesses are not only vulnerable to fraud, but also risk losing customers and reputational goodwill by challenging legitimate customer claims.

“The key functionality we enable is to connect all the parties to the transaction with the right information at the right time,” says Katz. “Our Order Insight platform provides robust transaction data on each sale, like the merchant’s name and contact information, date of purchase, device name used in the order process and many more important details, directly to the consumer via their bank’s mobile or online interfaces. In most cases, having access to this data can resolve a dispute and avoid a phone call to the issuer altogether, saving the merchant money and keeping customers happy.”

The report by Javelin Research concludes that partnering with third-party providers like Verifi makes sound business sense, in that it frees up merchants to focus on their core business. “It is imperative that merchants stay customer-friendly in the face of growing fraud pressure, yet the amount they have to put into building, managing, and maintaining in-house solutions has significant negative impact on their ability to scale their business over time. The projected growth of CNP fraud will introduce a new level of burden for digital merchants, which they will be unable to combat from a resource and scalability perspective. This will increase the pressure and negative impacts on them because they will be hit by fraud that they can’t handle. Their inability to scale quickly enough may result in measures that will hinder customer experience.”

The key advantage that these technologies – when properly leveraged – bring to enterprise is their ability to streamline and break silos
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The key advantage that these technologies – when properly leveraged – bring to enterprise is their ability to streamline and break silos. Deeper integration and more collaborative approaches to technology can help deliver robust information to the right parties at the right time, ultimately enhancing the experience for customers and users, improving efficiency across the board, and providing higher returns for companies and investors. The pieces of the puzzle are all there, it seems, but stakeholders must all work collaboratively to bring them together.

This article was first published on ERP in News

How Collaboration is key to leveraging AI and Big Data https://t.co/UGfUT6KjYl via @erpinnews@alicebonasio #tw17 #erpinnews #eintechnews

— ERPINNEWS (@erpinnews) November 15, 2017

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Working Together to Build a Big Data Future appeared first on Tech Trends.

We’re off to Los Angeles from the 22^nd to the 26^th October to join the brightest minds in data analytics for the Teradata Partners Conference 2017.

Tech Trends continues its relentless globe-trotting by adding yet another top tech event notch to its proverbial bedpost: The Teradata Partners Conference in LA.

Tech Trends will be at the #TDPARTNERS17 conference from the 22nd to the 26th October
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OK, I’m not going to lie. Any chance to escape the rain for a spell of California sunshine is always welcome, yet for anybody who’s into technology, data is actually a pretty sexy subject.

Data is actually a very sexy subject
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Think of any cool tech, from VR to the Internet of Things, EdTech, green energy, mobility, finance, and yes, even sex. Big Data, AI and Machine Learning will be the backbone of how these pan out.

Machine Learning, AI and Big Data affect every cool technology out there
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Described as the premier customer-led global data conference, the conference aims to bring together experts to help companies in all sectors drive more value from data.

At PARTNERS, you will meet and learn from change-agents and practitioners—those marching to their own tune. You will see tomorrow not as another day, but where The Edge of Next is.

Illustrious keynote speakers include Jason Silva from National Geographic’s Brain Games, Emmy-winning tech expert Katie Linendoll and the legendary director of MIT’s Media Lab Joi Ito. I know that I for one am very excited about hearing Mr Ito’s thoughts on what lies just over the horizon for tech.

MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito is among this year's keynote speakers
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Check out some of the highlights from last year’s conference below:

If you’re lucky enough to be heading over there, reach out and say hello on Twitter @alicebonasio or @techtrends_tech , and you can also follow the latest from the conference on #TDPARTNERS17

To find out how to leverage VR/AR/MR in your enterprise, Tech Trends offers bespoke Virtual Reality Consultancy support

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

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With the global cost of chargebacks mounting for consumers, banks and merchants alike, we need innovation to fight back

Online fraud is now the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales, according to a report published by the UK National Audit Office (NAO). Up to 1.9 million cyber-related fraud incidents were estimated to have taken place last year alone, with the cost likely to run into billions of pounds.

Online fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales
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The report also outlined that the NAO faces a significant challenge in influencing partners, such as banks and law enforcement bodies, to take on the responsibility of preventing and reducing fraud. As a “low value but high volume crime”, fraud is often overlooked by governments, law enforcement, and industry alike, says Amyas Morse, Head of the NAO. Acknowledging that the landscape for tackling online fraud is extremely complex, the report calls for an urgent response to address it.

Fraud is often overlooked by governments, law enforcement, and industry
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The report further cites that online fraud is under-reported; even where data is available there is a lack in the sharing of information between government, industry, and law enforcement agencies. In fact, there is no formal requirement for banks to report fraud or share reports with government, yet we see consistent evidence of fraud recurring all over the world. This is an enduring and global problem, one that takes a heavy toll on merchants and service providers of all sizes, as well as banks, issuers, and ultimately customers.

There was a 17% rise in consumers being caught out buying phantom goods online
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The growing scale of online fraud also suggests that many people are still not aware of the risks, and that there is much to be done to change behaviour. This is also evidenced in separate figures from Citizens Advice showing a 17% rise in consumers being caught out buying “phantom” goods online. This type of cybercrime occurs when fraudsters advertise items at cut prices on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram—as well as online marketplaces such as Gumtree and eBay—and con buyers into spending on average £1,100 on products ranging from cars to flights and even insurance, which simply do not exist. In only a few months, January to March this year, Citizens Advice logged over 3,600 complaints about such phantom goods.

These scams can have a lasting financial and emotional impact on consumer confidence and their relationship to merchants. While educating consumers is both sensible and necessary, the NAO report stresses that government and industry still have a responsibility to protect citizens and businesses. The report also found that the protection banks provide varies, with some investing more than others in educating customers and improving their anti-fraud technology.

Given that organized attacks of online fraud is likely to increase, this investment is absolutely essential—yet keeping up with the latest techniques employed by fraudsters can put tremendous strain on a company’s logistics. While few would argue that fraud detection and prevention is a priority for businesses, the fact is most businesses lack the necessary resources to build and maintain such solutions. It is the industry’s responsibility, however, to keep up—and ideally get ahead—of these fraudsters in order to protect both themselves and consumers.

Technology adoption can have significant impact on fraud prevention
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The adoption of such technologies has indeed been shown to have a significant positive impact on fraud prevention. Take, for example, EMV—the technical standard for smart payment cards and terminals that have allowed the rollout of payment solutions, such as Chip and Pin and Contactless. In the UK, its implementation led to a dramatic reduction of 32% in the levels of overall card fraud in the seven years following their introduction in 2004, according to official figures from the UK Card Association.

Such measures have undoubtedly made fraud much more difficult to perpetrate in “card present” payment scenarios, yet the shift to online retail has brought with it an entirely new set of challenges relating to fraud prevention and mitigation. There is no getting away from the fact that individual shopping habits have fundamentally changed over the past decade, and that the shift towards online and mobile shopping is not going to be reversed. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Total Retail 2016 Survey found that the popularity of mobile shopping continues to rise, stating that “46% of our global sample buys products via mobile at least a few times a year, compared to 40% last year”.

Chargebacks happen when customers dispute a transaction and request a refund
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While this might be good news for consumers in terms of better prices, more choice, and added convenience, it leaves the bulk of “card-not-present” transactions—which are the norm in online shopping and vulnerable to problems such as chargebacks. These chargebacks happen when customers dispute a transaction in their statement and request a refund—often going directly to their card issuer or bank and bypassing the merchant altogether.

Gross card fraud losses for 2015 reached $21.84 Billion
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According to The Nilson Report, gross card fraud losses for 2015 reached $21.84 Billion, not including the costs incurred by issuers, merchants, and acquirers for their operations, call centres, and chargeback management. By 2020, the report concludes, card fraud worldwide is expected to reach $31.67 billion, and that measures such as improving methods of reducing fraud on card-not-present transactions are critical to keeping those losses in check.

This is a complex issue, since there are many factors which can trigger a chargeback in the first place, and a blunt approach can cause a merchant more harm than good. One of these factors is known as “buyer’s remorse”—where a customer finds a product at a cheaper price elsewhere and uses the system as an alternative returns and refund mechanism. This is one of the forms that so-called “friendly fraud” takes. Another common scenario is where a person requesting the refund is not entirely sure they haven’t made the transaction, but will “try their luck” anyway. Since the cost of investigating such claims is often much higher than the value of the refund itself, banks will mostly opt to issue the refund without dispute, and some customers have learned to take advantage of this to manipulate the system. According to industry research firm Aite Group in their Impact Note of August 2016, 60% to 70% of chargebacks are the result of first-party or friendly fraud.

There are many ways for businesses to make themselves less vulnerable to chargebacks
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Business can minimise vulnerability to chargebacks in various ways. These include ensuring that they build a good relationship with their customers, by providing accurate product information and keeping the lines of communication open, so customers are more inclined to approach merchants with queries than to go directly to the issuing banks to initiate a dispute. Having a clear and efficient refunds policy also minimises the chance of experiencing so-called buyer’s remorse, where a customer is tempted to use chargebacks as a backup refund mechanism. However, many customers still get confused when seeing an unfamiliar name appear on their statement, as often merchants will be listed under names which differ significantly from their brand or trade name.

“When a customer sees a charge they don’t immediately recognise on their card, they often ask the bank to remove that charge from their statement”, explains Matthew Katz, CEO of Verifi, a provider of end-to-end payment protection and management solutions. “This is done by calling the bank directly to raise a dispute, leaving out the merchant who could potentially provide further information to clarify what the charge relates to. In fact, our research has found that up to 86% of cardholders bypass the merchant and contact their issuing bank directly to dispute or question a charge on their bill”.

While banks generally issue a refund to the customers, the process often has a very negative impact on overall customer experience, causing confusion and lingering trust issues which can lead to future sales being lost. This has an added impact on the merchant’s bottom line, on top of the fees, fines, and operational expenses of handling the chargeback in the first place.

Chargeback costs can quickly snowball
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These costs quickly snowball, ranging from administrative resources needed to investigate claims and process refunds, to fielding customer queries and potential loss of legitimate sales, present and future. Add this to the operational expense of preparing and shipping merchandise, as well as the value of the goods themselves which often must be written off, and the cost for merchants quickly adds up. Ultimately, this is also very bad news for consumers, as these costs will eventually trickle down the supply chain and translate into higher prices. The true price of these chargebacks is not reflected in the refund amounts alone, significant as these may be. In their September 2015 report, The Impact of Fraud and Chargeback Management on Operations, Javelin Research found that organizations typically spent between 13% and 20% of their operational budget on fraud and chargeback management.

“Globally, chargebacks continue to grow and represent a significant challenge”, agrees Katz, “To address this problem, we need solutions that better align the interests of cardholders, merchants, and issuing banks on a global scale, focusing on continual innovation and refinements that are essential to effectively combat this problem”, he believes.

This is what Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN) does, according to Katz. Verifi’s solution—which covers approximately 50% of the US market and boasts a 90% resolution rate—was named for the fifth year in a row as “Best Chargeback Management Program” by CNP Expo. It is now continuing to expand in international markets such as the United Kingdom, Verifi having opened an office in London in 2016, and now announcing a key strategic partnership with payments processor MegaCharge.

Verifi handles over 200,000 individual chargebacks each month
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One of the problems that CDRN addresses, according to Katz, is the fact that by the time merchants learn of the issue, it’s often too late to stop the chargeback. “Our patented closed-loop technology integrates directly with the top issuing banks. This pauses the chargeback process for up to 72 hours and redirects cardholder disputes from the bank to the merchant in near real-time. The merchant will have more time to assess and resolve the dispute before it ever becomes a chargeback. To date, we are supporting more than 25,000 accounts globally and handling over 200,000 individual chargebacks each month—amounting to an estimated $195 million in chargebacks prevented.

“The problem of chargebacks and friendly fraud are not only impacting businesses’ bottom line, but hindering future growth and jeopardizing customer retention, trust, and satisfaction rates. For merchants to strengthen their risk management and counter friendly fraud, the ideal line of defense would permit merchants to provide insights into the cardholder’s order as shopping cart-level data. This would feature merchant details and even the device used to make the purchase through the financial institution’s platform—all at the time the dispute arises. This deeper level of data can help cardholders better understand their purchases and avoid filing false cases of fraud that result in lost sales, higher labour costs and more”, Katz concludes.

Since the bulk of consumer purchases will be made online, it stands to reason that to tackle online fraud we must leverage data and technology in increasingly sophisticated ways. As the recent reports on the growing scale of this global problem show, gone are the days when the tools to do so could be considered an optional extra. They have, quite simply, become business essentials for every merchant looking to conduct business in the digital age.

This article initially appeared on World Commerce Review

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

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