Organizations keep their data in a lot of different places: onsite, in the cloud (another person’s data center) or in an all-in-one data warehouse. Often, this data is siloed. But if an organization could harness the power of its data and become a data-driven organization, it would be able to grow and compete more effectively. The company could move mountains — or so the idea goes. So why do data projects fail, and how can changing the organization’s culture turn things around?

Retailers are looking for technology solutions that can meet a particular need, whether it’s improving the customer experience, enhancing productivity or increasing revenue. I was excited to see some of the latest entries in the field in January at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention.

Retailers, vendors and industry experts at the event demonstrated an array of solutions and shared their perspectives on how technology will affect the industry this year. Here are four takeaways from Retail’s Big Show.

Today, we’re in the age of usage-based insurance. With modern automobile technology and new data-gathering methods, insurance companies can answer many questions about drivers: How fast does a person accelerate? How hard does he brake? What time of day does she typically drive? Using AI and data analytics, insurance carriers can correlate this data with the likelihood of a driver filing a claim, leading to personalized pricing, safe-driver discounts and more.

Digital transformation, customer experience and omnichannel are three of the biggest buzzwords in retail these days. Here’s one more to add to the conversation: layaway. Surprised? That’s understandable. After all, layaway is a century-old service that many retailers phased out decades ago when credit cards went mainstream. But many others still offer layaway. One reason…

It’s no secret that the U.S. population is aging. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau notes that by the year 2030, all baby boomers will be older than 65. At that point, 1 out of every 5 U.S. residents will be of retirement age. This trend poses serious challenges for healthcare providers, who will be…

When it comes to data analytics, there is a lot to be learned from what higher education institutions are doing with this technology. Schools are facing constant financial and competitive pressure — not unlike most businesses. They need to retain their customers, the students. This can be difficult because of competition from online educational options…