Parliament votes to dissolve the leadership of a region whose forces are fighting the national army.
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Saturday, November 7, 2020
Friday, November 6, 2020
Trump chief of staff Meadows diagnosed with COVID-19
Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows has been diagnosed with the coronavirus as the nation sets daily records for confirmed cases for the pandemic.
Read More: Televangelist who blamed COVID-19 on premarital sex dies from virus
Two senior administration officials confirmed Friday that Meadows had tested positive for the virus, which has killed more than 236,000 Americans so far this year.
Meadows traveled with Trump in the run-up to Election Day and last appeared in public early Wednesday morning without a mask as Trump falsely declared victory in the vote count.
Read More: McConnell: New virus relief bill will now be top priority
He had been one of the close aides around Trump when the president came down with the virus more than a month ago, but was tested daily and maintained his regular work schedule.
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Biden addresses nation amid ballot count: ‘We’re not waiting to get the work done’
Biden says he is already preparing to assume the presidency even though he has not been declared the winner in his race against Trump.
Joe Biden says he is already preparing to assume the presidency even though he has not been declared the winner in his race against President Donald Trump.
“I want people to know we’re not waiting to get the work done,” he said late Friday in remarks to the nation.
Biden said he and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have held briefings on the coronavirus and the economy this week as the U.S. records record daily cases.
He noted nearly 240,000 people have died from the pandemic and said he wants those families to know they aren’t alone.
Read More: Los Angeles man threatens mass shooting if Biden wins
He also addressed the millions of Americans who remain out of work and are struggling to pay rent or buy food.
“We don’t have any more time to waste on partisan warfare,” he said.
The Associated Press has not yet declared a winner in the race between Biden and Trump because neither candidate has reached the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House.
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Democrat Jon Ossoff advances to runoff election for U.S. Senate in Georgia
Neither Perdue or Ossoff was able to clear the 50% threshold needed for an outright win.
Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff will face off in a Jan. 5 runoff in Georgia for Perdue’s Senate seat.
Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel was able to get enough votes so that neither Perdue or Ossoff was able to clear the 50% threshold needed for an outright win.
Thousands of absentee ballots and in-person votes cast early needed to be counted after Election Night passed, forcing a long and tense wait before the race could be called.
Read More: Stacey Abrams widely applauded for helping drive Biden’s gains in Georgia
The contest has already seen huge spending from outside groups on both sides and millions of dollars more are expected to pour into the state ahead of the runoff.
The race between Ossoff and Perdue, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has been characterized by sharp attack ads but relatively moderate political positions.
Both candidates pivoted to the middle vying for a state Trump won handily four years ago, but where swaths of suburbia have shown signs of disillusionment with the president.
Perdue sought to cast Ossoff as backing a “radical socialist agenda,” while Ossoff portrayed Perdue as a “corrupt” Washington insider who has been part of a botched pandemic response.
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DaBaby says he’s going to ‘get a therapist’ after brother’s death by suicide
The rapper’s older sibling, Glen Johnson, died on Tuesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Rapper DaBaby says he is in need of therapy following the recent death of his older brother, Glen Johnson.
Johnson, 34, died on Tuesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. TMZ reported that he shared a video to social media of himself in a car visibly upset and crying while holding a gun. In the clip, Johnson claimed he had been wronged a lot in the past. He shot himself in the head and died shortly after recording the video.
Read More: DaBaby’s older brother dies by suicide at 34: report
DaBaby, 28, tweeted about “#MentalHealthAwareness” on Thursday, urging his fans, “If you can’t get over depression GET HELP, you see a loved one struggling get them help, they refuse the help, MAKE em get treated anyway.”
“You suffer from PTSD take that s— serious & get help! I’m bouta get a therapist my damn self!” he continued.
In a tweet posted on earlier this week, DaBaby wrote, “Death don’t phase [sic] me at all, watching my family suffer does.”
He continued, “GOD watch over my family, my mama, my nieces & nephew & they mama, my brother. Don’t worry bout me take whatever you was do for me and pour it into them. & keep me cool.”
Johnson is survived by three daughters and a son.
Read More: New ‘Braxton Family Values’ trailer shows moment Toni Braxton learned of Tamar’s suicide attempt
theGRIO previously reported, DaBaby’s father was killed shortly after the release of his first LP, 2019’s Baby on Baby.
The rapper addressed the loss of his brother in an Instagram Story on Tuesday, sharing lyrics from “Intro” on his Kirk album: “My brother be thinkin’ that we don’t love him and let him struggle like we ain’t family/Like I won’t give up all I got to see you happy, n—–,” he raps in the song. DaBaby captioned the post, “I would’ve gave up all I had to see you happy n—.”
Critics praised the intimate nature of Kirk, titled after his last name, on which the hip-hop star talks at length about his family.
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NBA arena voting centers have impact in Atlanta, Detroit
Several NBA teams turned their facilities into voting centers for the election in Detroit and Atlanta
During a conversation with LeBron James, Barack Obama made a suggestion that could have possibly made an impact on the election.
The former president spoke with the Los Angeles Lakers superstar in August after the shooting of Jacob Blake and the NBA games were canceled as part of a boycott. Obama called in while the players were in the bubble and their discussion was recently revealed on The Shop, James’ barbershop talk show that airs on HBO.
Read More: LeBron James officially endorses Biden after Trump rally attacks
“One of the suggestions I had for the players was: Is it possible for you guys to set up an office that allows you, on an ongoing basis, to take best practices that are going to start making incidents like [the Blake shooting] less likely?” Obama said.
After that conversation, several NBA arenas and workout centers around the country decided to use its space as voting centers particularly in underserved areas. James’ organization “More Than A Vote” collaborated with players and 23 teams turned facilities into voting centers and polling places, per NBA NBC Sports.
The teams really took activism to a new level. The Detroit Pistons used their practice facility, Henry Ford Performance Center, as a voting center. Atlanta’s State Farm Center used its facility as a voting and counting location. The Phoenix Suns also transformed its facility, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, into an early ballot drop off location.
Back in June when announcements of the initiative began to roll out James tweeted, “The easiest way to keep us from changing anything is to keep us from voting. As athletes, we stand on the shoulders of giants. We must continue their fight on behalf our community.”
Read More: NBA YoungBoy investigated for allegedly assaulting, pistol whipping Texas man
The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia was not approved to become a voting facility. The 76ers were told no thank you when they offered it to the city. It is unclear the direct impact these facilities made on the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election but the camaraderie of the NBA teams are exemplary.
The impact of these arenas are unquantifiable for now. There is no way to determine how many people voted at each location or who they voted for yet, but for one NBA player, this election season made a difference.
“I can selfishly say I was that person four years ago, and eight years ago,” said Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards said over the summer at his home court, Capital One Arena, per NPR. “I was someone who didn’t take registration seriously, and I was someone who thought my vote didn’t count.”
“I had a conversation with my parents, my grandparents … just understanding what they went through in order to have that right to vote, in order to have that privilege for their voice to be heard,” he said. “I clearly took that for granted for eight to 10 years, and so I definitely want to nip that in the bud.”
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Los Angeles man threatens mass shooting if Biden wins
‘I’m gonna take out all of these Democrats.’
A Donald Trump supporter has been taken into custody by the FBI after he threatened to “do a school shooter” in Los Angeles if Joe Biden is declared the next president of the United States.
“At this point, like, if Biden gets in I’m just gonna do like a school shooter and just take out all of these Democrats,” the unidentified man said in a video posted to social media. He also threatened to take “a few pedophiles on the way out.”
The short clip concludes with him making clear that “If I go to hell I’m taking these motherf**kers with me.”
Read More: Secret Service protection stepped up for Biden in preparation for possible win
Once FBI agents saw the video, they were quick to pay the man a visit and determine that it was best to place him under a psychiatric hold, TMZ reports. He has not yet been charged with any crime.
Agents reportedly searched his home for weapons over concern that he was targeting a demonstration planned in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Samuel Braslow, a reporter for the Beverly Hill Courier, posted a screenshot of messages allegedly showing the man threatening to stab another Instagram user. He describes how he’ll be wearing a mask and disguised as a protester “and then when you don’t suspect it will stab you right in the f**king back.”
He then called the user the N-word and said “hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Read More: Stacey Abrams widely applauded for helping drive Biden’s gains in Georgia
The man’s video threat coincides with reports about plans being made to increase security measures for Biden.
The Washington Post reports the Secret Service is sending additional agents to Wilmington, Delaware due to the possibility he may soon claim victory in the 2020 presidential election, according to two people familiar with the plans. The agents were deployed to add to the protective bubble around Biden after his campaign informed the agency he would continue to use a local convention center in preparation for a likely prime-time speech on Friday night.
While the votes are still being tallied, dozens of security agents are already on duty protecting Biden’s campaign stronghold at Wilmington’s Chase Center on the Riverfront convention center, theGRIO previously reported.
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Mo’Nique says Oprah, Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels cost her ‘generational wealth’
The comedian and actress claims that members of the Hollywood elite have cost her money, not just now but for years to come
Mo’Nique has more to say in her ongoing crusade about the evils and abuses of the entertainment industry.
The Oscar-winning actress has been forthcoming in the past about her sour relationships with Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels, and Tyler Perry but during a recent episode of Fox Soul’s Out Loud with Claudia Jordan she says the three stars didn’t just cost her money, they cost money for her generations to come.
Read More: Gayle King reveals she turned down ‘opportunity’ to take over Oprah’s show
But she told Jordan she doesn’t regret her comments.
Per Shadow and Act, Mo’Nique told Jordan: “For so long, people in power feel like ‘I can use you like a piece of trash and ball you up and throw you away when I’m done with you.’ For me, that stage is my therapy. That night, I had to say it because they were sitting by watching my career be snatched.”
She added, “Its cost my family millions. Its cost us generational money.”
Jordan opened up the conversation by asking Mo’Nique about a conversation she had with fellow actress and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who Mo’Nique says advised her in private to leave her husband and manager, Sidney Hicks, because he’s the reason she’s missing out on work opportunities.
“I was heartbroken that day in her dressing room, personally, because I was watching our icon and our legend be scared,” said the actress. “As she was looking into my eyes and she said to me, ‘It’s your husband, you gotta get rid of your husband,’ and I said, ‘Whoopi, my husband negotiated the biggest deals I’ve had in my career, along with our attorney Rickey Anderson, two Black men,’ and she went dead silent. And then she said, ‘Listen, you better stop worrying about that little girl coming behind you and you better worry about you.’ And at that moment, I knew Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t worried about me because I’m the little girl coming behind her.”
After Mo’Nique won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her heartbreaking role in Precious in 2010 she believes her opportunities in Hollywood dried up because she was blackballed for failing to participate in a promotional tour for the film for free.
The actress called out Winfrey saying she added fuel to the fire when she refused to dispute claims that Mo’Nique was hard to work with. She says she had a conversation with Perry about the situation and that while he agreed with her privately he won’t support her publicly.
The actress tells Jordan, “When you have Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, and Lee Daniels saying you are right in your position, so what happens historically, when you understand what a Black woman has to deal with in a place called Hollywood, it is always, we will get them on the next one…”
Read More: Stedman Graham doesn’t ‘define’ himself by relationship with Oprah
She continued: “Well g****** it, I’ve been showing up for 30 years… and when you know the history of Hattie McDaniel, when you know the history of Eartha Kitt…they gave everything, and the moment they say something ain’t right, they became difficult, they became blackballed and most of them died in despair, alone with no families, because they gave it all to a place called Hollywood.”
Check out the full conversation below.
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Chicago rapper King Von dead at 26
The ‘Crazy Story 2.0’ rapper was killed in a shootout that involved police
Another young rapper is gone too soon.
King Von, who was born Dayvon Bennett, was among three men killed on Friday when an argument turned into gunfire in the early morning hours outside an Atlanta hookah lounge.
Read More: Rapper Loon to serve as fellow for Meek Mill’s REFORM Alliance
Two groups of men got into an altercation around 3:20 a.m. outside Atlanta’s Monaco Hookah Lounge. The Chicago rapper was wounded and taken to the hospital where he later passed away, per the Chicago Sun Times.
“He was a devoted father, a deeply loyal friend, and a man who took care of his people before himself,” said his publicist, Erin Ryan, in a statement. “We are heartbroken for his family, his friends, his team, and his fans. Long live King Von.”
Off-duty Atlanta police officers who were posted at the lounge as security and an on-duty officer patrolling nearby fired shots as well, while responding to the confrontation between the two groups. TMZ reports the bullet that hit King Von was not from an officer’s gun but the incident is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta police. Six men were injured in total but no police officers were wounded.
“Part of the investigations will include determining which individuals were struck by gunfire from the suspects and whether any were struck by gunfire from the officers,” police said, according to the Sun-Times.
The up-and-coming rapper affiliated with Lil Durk and signed to his Only The Family label had just released his third album, “Welcome to O-Block” last week. He was 26 years old.
Fellow Chicago rapper Chance the Rapper was one of the musicians who mourned King Von’s death on social media as did Lebron James, who said he and his sons were fans.
“Wow. This year was so tough. rip von God bless him and his family I can’t believe it.”
Fellow young rap star YBN Cordae posted his condolences.
“Rest In Peace King Von,” R&B singer Jacquees posted.
“Damn Rest Easy Von! Bronny, Bryce and I rocked with his music and story telling! The kid had a damn good future ahead of him. My prayers and blessings to his family,” James said on Twitter.
Read More: John Legend says rappers supporting Trump are new supergroup ‘called the Sunken Place’
The scene was described as “chaotic” by Atlanta police Deputy Chief Timothy Peek, who said police believe all six men were involved in the altercation. Two men were detained at the crime scene and it’s possible there may have been more people shot, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“At this time, our investigators believe Mr. Bennett was shot during the initial shootout between the two groups of males, prior to police responding and attempting to stop the shooting,” Officer Anthony Grant, a police spokesman, said in a statement obtained by the AJC. “Additionally, Mr. Bennett was not located at the scene, but arrived at a hospital shortly after the shooting, via private vehicle. The investigation into this incident remains open and very active.”
King Von and Lil Durk, born Durk Derrick Banks, were facing multiple charges including attempted murder, in connection with a shooting outside The Varsity in Atlanta in 2019. In that incident, a man was “seriously injured” per the AJC. King Von was arrested in Atlanta again a few months later on an aggravated battery charge.
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Using Automated Computer Vision to See the Big Picture
Data comes in all shapes and sizes. Just like our daily decision-making processes, the more points of view we have, the better the potential outcome. For example, when considering a hospital readmission dataset, we can use traditional features, such as patients’ gender, readmission date, and the number of previous lab procedures. In order to strengthen the artificial intelligence (AI) models and get even better predictions, we can add, for example, an image of a patient’s MRI and raw text from doctors’ notes.
In the webinar DataRobot Visual AI: See the Big Picture with Automated Computer Vision, we explored these issues, discussing how deep learning and computer vision algorithms work and the way companies can apply DataRobot Visual AI for their daily operations.
Visual AI Demystifies Deep Learning
You don’t need to be an expert in data science and deep learning to understand the process of training neural networks and creating models by yourself. DataRobot Visual AI is extremely easy to use. Just drag and drop a zip file containing your images, their labels, and any other set of features you like into DataRobot to get started. You then pick your target feature and hit the Start button in the usual way.
The deep learning models DataRobot builds are just as easy to understand. Visual AI provides detailed blueprints to explain every pre-processing step and which algorithms were used and a variety of human-friendly visual insights to help you interpret results, including image activation maps and row-by-row prediction explanations.
Visual AI is part of DataRobot’s Automated Machine Learning product which is tightly integrated with DataRobot MLOps. MLOps makes it incredibly easy to deploy your deep learning model to your production environment of choice in just a few clicks. You are then able to monitor and manage your Visual AI models over its full production lifecycle in a tightly governed environment.
Example Visual AI Use Cases
How do companies use automated computer vision? In the webinar, we discuss some examples, including the early detection of forest fires from aerial photography or the assessment of hurricane property damage using images from drones in areas that inspectors on the ground cannot access. Another application discussed was the automated capability to distinguish people who are wearing masks from those who are not before being admitted into a building or office.
In the healthcare industry, providers can use more complex models with a wide variety of features to recognize types of skin lesion and the probability of skin cancer developing.
Conclusion
The different ways in which DataRobot Visual AI can be used is limited only by the human imagination. If you are interested in learning more about how Visual AI can add value to your business or organization, be sure to watch the whole webinar, DataRobot Visual AI: See the Big Picture with Automated Computer Vision.
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The list of the world's 50 best bars is out — and the winner isn't in NYC
The World’s 50 Best Bars were announced on Nov. 5, with London’s Connaught Bar clinching the No. 1 spot.
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Mistakes that most of the analysts do in their analytics
In the field of data science or analytical sciences, any solution can be potential to solve any problem. But, to derive such prospective solutions, the following are the top common mistakes in their practice.
- Unable to apply common sense and subject matter expertise for providing solutions to any given problem using analytical tools and techniques.
- The results are tremendously biased towards models such as AI and ML (tools and techniques), but incompetent to realize the significance of the problem.
- The results tend to ignore basic statistical sampling techniques, that will not have enough evidence to have inference.
- Analytical solutions are providing inadequate or fragmented solutions; it is due to ignoring root causes such as proper investigation, profound analysis of any designed problem.
- Funded projects results are dominant and influenced towards predetermined results and try to convince their investors. These results can mislead them to a great extent in the long run as they did not derive from the data analysis.
- The quality of data is being questioned in every analysis, as within the organizational structure have different functionalities will not be willing to share its data with the analytics or data science teams. (as they see the confidentiality is their high priority, but unable to understand data is taking part in the inside employees for the better results).
- If research results are baseless analytical results will always danger. Baseless arguments incur enormous cost and also lead to many adverse effects on the organizations or systems.
- Analysis should provide the results based on pieces of evidence from data. In many instances, analysts have the policy to promote acceptable and positives only. The major mistake by many analysts is to translate the negative numbers as acceptable or ignore the negative numbers.
- Analysts should never try to mislead the end-users by promoting predetermined results with anticipation of their personal growth and future aspirations.
- As an analytics expert, it’s their responsibility and integrity to provide the best achievable and acceptable results to their clients. Instead, they are anticipating their personal brand and their own image.
- Finally, with the above said mistakes, clients will have improper, undermined and biased results regarding to their business; hence their business decisions are not proper to the markets and also lead to the crisis in their business management.
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Thursday, November 5, 2020
Java: What Makes it the Top Choice for Data Science
Data science uses algorithms, tools, and technologies to identify patterns in data and eventually glean valuable insights from the raw data. Simply put, it allows us to make sense of all that abundance of data that we seem to have all around us. We don’t have to tell you why data science has quickly gained popularity globally, with more and more companies and enterprises seeking to integrate it into their operations. It is by undertaking the development of relevant tools and software, of course. This, then, brings us to a vital question on this quest for data science: Which programming language to use?
Of course, there is absolutely no dearth of options here; Python, R, and many other programming languages that are widely used for data science. But there is one name that has carved quite a niche for itself in this particular market: Java. Despite being one of the oldest programming languages used for enterprise development, it has managed to not only keep up but stay ahead of the curve. It is thus successfully enabling the development of advanced apps and software. Why else do you think at least 21 percent of people working with data science use Java for it? It is because Java empowers with benefits such as interoperability, high levels of utility, etc. To help drive the point home, we have discussed some of Java's other data science services below.
- Quick pace: Admittedly, Python is one of the most widely used programming languages for data science. And yet, Java is 25x faster than Python! So, if you are going to build something that involves lots and lots of computing, Java is the right choice for you. Besides the processing speed, Java is also much quicker in the context of development time. It is due to its ability to integrate and facilitate the use of various tools that ease the development process to a significant extent compared to some of Java’s rivals.
- Plenty of frameworks: Of course, when the critical goal is data science, it always helps to have tools and features specifically aimed to ease that requirement, no? And Java does precisely that — it offers plenty of high-quality frameworks such as ND4J, Apache Mahout, Deeplearning4J, etc. Such frameworks render development work much easier and help programmers save precious time and money.
- Scalability: It is an understandably crucial consideration, is made effortless with Java. How? With a variety of components specifically aimed at addressing those concerns. As the processing requirements grow, it enables the seamless addition of new hardware, semi-transparent redistribution of load, etc.
Java may not be the most popular for data science in the world. However, it is quickly getting there, thanks to the countless benefits it delivers for anyone working with data science. Now, suppose you too want to take it up for your data science projects. In that case, you should get in touch with a trusted vendor forJava application development services.
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Fueling Digital Transformation with Service Design
One of the industry’s great debates (bigger than regular Cap’n Crunch versus Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries) is “What is Digital Transformation?” Here’s my take:
Digital Transformation is the fundamental reinvention of an organization’s business model by synergizing advanced analytics (composable, reusable analytic modules) with empowered teams to create a customer journey-centric culture that is continuously-learning and adapting to new sources of customer, product and operational value.
To help organizations navigate their Digital Transformation journey, I introduced the Digital Transformation Value Creation Mapping in the blog “It’s Not Digital Transformation; It’s Digital “Business” Transformation! – Part I.” The Digital Transformation Value Creation Mapping provides a framework to help organizations 1) identify, 2) codify and 3)scale new sources of customer, product and operational value within a 4) customer journey-centric continuously-learningand adapting (via advanced analytics and empowered humans) business and operational environment (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Digital Transformation Value Creation Mapping
The starting point for the Digital Transformation Value Creation Mapping – identifying sources of value creation – requires a thorough and intimate knowledge of what your customers are trying to accomplish with respect to your products and/or services. As part of that effort, organizations must make the upfront investment to identify, validate, value and prioritize the customers’ sources of value as well as the impediments to their value realization. And that detailed, holistic understanding of your customers’ “journey” should start well before they engage with your products and/or services, and ideally extends beyond that engagement as well.
And that’s where the concept of Service Design comes into play.
Role of Service Design in Digital Transformation
Service Design, a methodology out of the Design Thinking toolkit, is instrumental in ensuring that companies thoroughly and intimately understand the entirety of the holistic, end-to-end journeys of their different customer segments.
The Interaction Design Foundation defines Service Design as a “process where designers create sustainable solutions and optimal experiences for both customers in unique contexts and any service providers involved. Designers break services into sections and adapt fine-tuned solutions to suit all users’ needs in context—based on actors, location and other factors.[1]”
The Nielsen Norman Group states that a Service Blueprint (similar to a Service Design) is a “diagram that visualizes the relationships between different service components — people, props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to touchpoints in a specific customer journey.” See Figure 2.
Figure 2: Source: “Service Blueprints: Definition”[2]
Service Design provides that deep understanding of your customers’ value creation and associated impediments that serves as the foundation for any organization’s Digital Transformation. And since Digital Transformation is about the “fundamental reinvention of an organization’s business model”, a key part of that business model reinvention, for many organizations, includes transitioning your customers to more engaging, value-based “Capabilities-as-a-service” (or Xaas) business model.
Understanding the Xaas Business Model
Xaas refers to the delivery of specific capabilities as a service. For example, many of you use Gmail or Yahoo! for email. You don’t have to download and maintain an application on your laptop to get access to those email services. Instead, you “consume” email capabilities (composing emails, reading and responding to emails, sending group emails, scheduling meetings, managing contacts) “as a service”. The Xaas consumption model has the end user advantage of hiding the underlying technology complexities; the users only care about having access to their desired capabilities freed from worrying about the underlying technologies.
For example, Uber is leveraging their detailed understanding of consumers, drivers and traffic patterns to provide a new “transit-as-a-service” offering. The Transportation Authority of Marin (California) will pay Uber a subscription fee to facilitate requesting, matching and tracking of its high-occupancy vehicle fleet in support of local residents travel needs.
As more organizations rush to Xaas to find new and more predictable revenue streams, the lack of knowledge about how customers are using your products and services is striking. And that’s when the trouble begins.
To be successful with an Xaas business model requires (see Figure 3):
- Superior consumer product usage insights (product usage tendencies, inclinations, affinities, relationships, associations, behaviors, patterns and trends). Xaas providers must be able to quantify and predict where, how and under what conditions the product will be used and the load on that product across various usage scenarios.
- Superior product operational insights (product performance and product operational tendencies, inclinations, affinities, relationships, associations, behaviors, patterns and trends) to provide an “operational experience excellence” by reducing unplanned operational downtime and optimizing product performance across various usage scenarios (which requires use cases such as predictive maintenance, repair optimization, inventory cost reductions, logistics optimization, elimination of obsolete and excessive inventory, consumables inventory optimization, energy efficiencies, asset utilization, technician retention, remaining useful life, predicted salvage value, etc.).
- Superior data and instrumentation strategy to know (and quantify) what data is most important for what use cases and where to place sensors and other instrumentation and data capturing devices to capture that data so as to balance the operational costs associated with False Negatives and False Positives.
Figure 3: Ingredients for a Successful Xaas Business Model
Xaas business model profitability can only be optimized when you tightly integrate and synergize your design, data and analytics strategies.
Role of Service Design with an Xaas Business Model
As organizations transition to an “as-a-service” business models, it requires an entirely new “product management” and “engineering” mindset:
“When you engineer a capability as a product, then it’s the user’s responsibility to figure out how best to use that product. But when your design a capability as a service, then it’s the designers’ and engineers’ responsibility to ensure that the service is capable of being used effectively by the user. This understanding of how users use your capabilities impacts revenue (usage-based revenue model), pricing (to thoroughly understand the value of that capability so as not to over or under price the capability) and SLA support agreements (so as to properly price service agreements based again upon the value of the capability).”
To help organizations to create the data and analytics strategy necessary to support their Xaas business strategy, I created the Data Science Journey Map canvas that identifies the data science (data and analytic) requirements necessary to 1) identify the customer requirements (as identified from the Solution Design) and 2) codify the customer requirements into analytic models (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Data Science Journey Map Canvas
Figure 4 shows the Data Science Journey Map for a Discrete Manufacturer who is trying to optimize inventory costs and inventory availability. The Data Science Journey Map decomposes each stage of the customer journey into key actions (or decisions), metrics against which progress and success will be measured, the different analytics that we will need to provide to support the journey, and what data might be useful in supporting the analytics.
Summary: Marrying Service Design with Data Science
As organizations pursue Digital Transformation, a key component to that effort is the transition to a customer-centric, value-focused “Capabilities-as-a-service” (Xaas) business model. Analytics is T-H-E most important competency as companies push into those Xaas business models.
Superior insights into consumer product usage patterns coupled with superior insights into product performance patterns enables Xaas providers to determine the optimal operational, pricing and customer service level agreements to ensure a viable and profitable Xaas business model.
And if you haven't first mastered customer usage and product performance data management and advanced analytics...SURPRISE (and that’s not the good kind of surprise).
[1] “What is Service Design?” https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/service-design
[2] “Service Blueprints: Definition” http://www.nngroup.com/articles/service-blueprints-definition/
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