Category Archives: Technology

Why our fear of robots is overblown

Automating activities is far harder than it may seem. It works well when there is a high volume of repetitive tasks. But what looks repetitive at a high level can be much more variable when looked at granularly, step-by-step. Typically...

Does AI augment or replace human capabilities?

AI is a prediction technology. It is a tool we use to mitigate uncertainty about the past, present or future – to understand why something has happened, to coalesce fuzzy data to understand what is happening now and to forecast...

Why we should rename AI

My first involvement with AI project came five years ago. Except we weren’t calling it AI then, we were calling it analytics. The project entailed integrating predictive modelling with a decision engine to personalise what customers would be offered when...

midata Innovation Lab launches

Seeing is believing. Many people can’t see the opportunity of something really new until they can see a working example. At Ctrl-Shift we can say that one day there will be as many services based on the permission based sharing...

How to value personal data?

The Financial Times’ recent exercise to help individuals value their data has caused something of a stir amongst those interested in personal data. It’s unfortunate that, in a world where data is increasingly recognised as a critically important raw material,...

Trust Frameworks: an opportunity to close the gap on trust

A new, short paper published today by Ctrl-Shift explores the business opportunity presented by Trust Frameworks. It is a useful introduction and reference document for marketing leads, customer experience strategists and data scientists who want to understand more about such...

Smart Transport Internet of Things Ecosystem (Stride)

We have created a short, nifty video which explains the Stride (Smart Transport Internet of Things Data Ecosystem) project that Ctrl-Shift has started working on with Cambridge University, Dartt, Aimes Grid Services and project lead BT. The video covers Stride’s aims,...

When Big Data meets Personal Data

Some interesting sessions at the DataIQ conference this week. My talk was on the theme ‘Where Personal Data Meets Big Data’. One meeting point takes the form of a clash: the requirements of Big Data and of personal data protection...

Driving the value of the UK Internet of Things market

Ctrl-Shift is kicking off a groundbreaking year long project helping to shape and develop the UK Internet of Things market. It will be a voyage of discovery where we will apply our expertise in how to catalyse data led value...

Panorama and the Big Data hype cycle

When hype cycles reach their peak, the connection between the thing at the heart of the hype (which may or may not be important) and what people say about this thing frays to the point of breaking. Unjustified extrapolations, logical...

An opportunity for breakthrough cost savings

New research published by Ctrl-Shift today (Breakthrough Efficiency Summary) today shows organisations could achieve dramatic cost savings/efficiency improvements by connecting to new businesses providing data services to individuals. Organisations in both public and private sectors currently struggle with multiple, constant headaches...

WEF report: why data is now a strategic issue

As part of its Rethinking Personal Data project the World Economic Forum has just published its latest paper Unlocking the Value of Personal Data: From Collection to Usage. One of the key passages reads as follows: From passive consent to...

When Open Data meets personal data

A few years ago, as part of the Open Data movement, Transport for London begin releasing data about the movements of buses and tubes through London. Big deal. So what? What does it matter to most Londoners if the...

Cloud and data services in 2013

Cloud technologies underpin much of the new information services ecosystem. The ‘Internet of Things’ and self-quantification services rely on cloud based storage, computing power and platforms. Open data initiatives are now feasible because of cost-effective cloud infrastructure. And ‘as a...