FICO Labs

FICO World 2014 is opening in San Diego next week. With more than 100 sessions presented by experts from more than 80 companies around the world, it might seem overwhelming. Whether you’re an analytic scientist, a data wonk, a wannabe, or a tech-savvy business leader, there is something for everyone at FICO World. Below is our quick guide to help you navigate the lead…

Who says data scientists can’t let their hair down? In celebrating 10 years in Bangalore, our employees (many of them data scientists) show that they too are “happy.” The video for Pharrell William's massive hit song has more than 300 million views on YouTube and has spawned thousands of copycat videos all over the world. FICO Bangalore is no exception and, with its…

Correlation doesn’t equal causation. This point sometimes gets lost in the Big Data discussion. The argument goes that if you have enough data, correlation is good enough. Even our friend Kenneth Cukier wrote that the focus of analyzing Big Data will shift from causation to correlation. “This represents a move away from always trying to understand the deeper reasons…

The Internet of Things is expanding beyond smartphones, game consoles, wearable wellness and the ilk to include your appliances. In April, Berg, a design and technology development startup in London, debuted Cloudwash, a prototype for a connected washing machine. Unlike the complex and often over-engineered internet appliances of old, this washing machine is a refine…

Hadoop is a big deal. But Hadoop’s biggest roadblocks may be its complexity and the scarcity of software engineers who are qualified to work with it. Adoption is still growing: 30 percent of enterprises have invested in Big Data technology, including Hadoop and NoSQL databases, up from 27 percent in 2012. But many deployments have stalled. In fact, only 8 percent of e…

People describe lots of things as being “real-time.” But what does that phrase mean? If a task takes 10 seconds, is it real-time? If it takes one second, is it real-time? How about blinking your eyes—can you do that in real time? Below is an infographic that investigates what constitutes “real-time.” It compares how fast the average person blinks, a car airbag inflat…

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Last week KPMG released the findings of a survey of 144 CFOs and CIOs at large enterprises. And while some of the findings show that most enterprises are far away from realizing Big Data nirvana, it also shows that many organizations are on the road to recovery. The problem: 96 percent of respondents…

The video below shows Dr. Gerald Fahner, FICO Labs blogger and senior director in FICO’s Research Division, presenting FICO's innovative approach to algorithmic learning and domain expertise at last fall's INFORMS conference. In his presentation, he describes how FICO credit scoring serves as a perfect use case for illustrating the valu…

January is the time for New Year's resolutions.  Each year, roughly one in three people resolves to better themselves in some way. But when it comes to Big Data, many CIOs aren’t sure how to take their first steps toward adoption. If you are looking to take the Big Data plunge in 2014, Andrew Jennings, FICO’s chief analytics officer, has 10 resolutions for y…

The Consumer Electronics Association just released a report on the growth of the connected health and wellness consumer devices market, also known as wearable technology, wearable trackers or just plain wearables. The report anticipated that more than 40 million wearable health and wellness devices were sold in 2013, and over the next five years the market is expected…

Launched in late September of 2012, the FICO Labs blog is a little over a year old. In our first full year of covering innovation, technology and the role of analytic sciences in today’s business, we have had some excellent posts from some very smart contributors. As 2013 comes to a close, we thought it would be good to revisit our top 13 most popular posts for the ye…