Review of Data Crush-Sometimes You Can Judge A Book By Its Title

By Cary J. Calderone, Esq.

My quick summary of the book:  Either crush, or be crushed.  The amount of data is growing faster than ever.  Data Crush by Chris Surdak explains why this is happening and provides a roadmap for keeping your business on the right side of the tidal wave of data.   A key observation Surdak shares is that:

The Internet used to be a tool for telling your customers about your business. Now its real value lies in what it tells you about them.

 In other words, you either take advantage of new technology and new data, or, your competitors will, and you may be out of business.  

The book is divided into three sections.  The first section describes the six technology forces behind this continued data hyper-growth:

1. Mobility
2. Virtual Living
3. Digital Commerce
4. Online Entertainment
5. Big Data
6. Cloud Computing

On the importance of mobility, Surdak points out that  10 years ago, the smartphone did not exist (nor did the other categories) and today, "72% of smartphone owners use them to enhance their shopping experience."  Is your business taking advantage of this?  It should.

The second section of the book describes the methods companies will use to respond to these 6 market forces.  Revisiting the discussion of mobility, Surdak describes the phenomena as the "appification" of society.  Consumers are used to instant downloads to answer their every "whim."  He finds 90% of apps are not useful but, 10% are "sticky" enough, and "commercially-significant" enough to become "critical."   "The goal for any company must be to create apps that are part of this critical 10%, rather than the commodity 90%."

Lastly, the book provides a forecast on how these trends will likely transform business with various scenarios for you to crush the data, and capitalize.  My favorite part of the book is about the Internet of Things.  Or, as the author puts it, "thingification." Smart meters, smart appliances, smart clothing, smart glasses, will accelerate the data growth but also transform how consumers think.  An unintended consequence, (other than the fact that CIOs, CDOs, CPOs, and everyone involved in IT will have more nightmare-ladled and sleepless nights)  will be that consumers will expect smart things that fix themselves before there is a problem   These devices create a "new kind of intelligence" and consumers will feel "zero tolerance of defects or loss of service."

As a lawyer, I could not help but wonder, how will the law keep up?   In past blog posts I have discussed laws that were outdated if not obsolete due to technological innovations.  For example, the California guidelines for maintaining all surveillance video for three years.  This was doable when the local transit authority had one security camera at the gate to the bus yard creating video tapes, but it is not financially feasible when you have 6-12 high-resolution cameras on every bus.  Google glasses, smart meters, appliances, etc. will generate too much data to manage with current RIM and IG policies, procedures, and tools.  However, as Surdak explains, if you are able to use the latest technology and manage the data, you may find incredible benefits and advantages to mining this data.   

In conclusion, as a modern attorney/technologist who tries to do a pretty good job keeping up with technology trends and innovations, I was still surprised at the staggering numbers Data Crush forecasts.  Surdak gives estimates that that amount of data will continue to grow by 100% a year in the 2010s.  For those who want to be ready, the time to start planning, is now!