March 29, 2017

How Streamlined Technology Can Ensure Mobile Workforce Success

Technology has inarguably changed the way we work, and as a result, we’re more productive. Surprisingly, technology has had a slower start to catch up with one of the fastest growing workforces in the U.S. field service—also known as the mobile workforce.

In 2015, Mobile workers made up 70% of the total U.S. workforce, and this number continues to grow.

In the past, mobile workers, who range from occupations like electricians to at-home nurses, have used manual methods to track their time, mileage, and other important client information while on-the-go. However, as the number of field service workers continues to increase, CIOs and Ops Managers have voiced that they need more effective ways to centralize information that’s incoming from these workers and analyze it all to make wiser business decisions at a faster rate.

By 2020, it’s expected that there will be 105 million mobile workers in the U.S. compared to 40 million non-mobile workers.

Enter: Skedulo, an all-in-one app and software that allows real-time interaction between a “home base” and the mobile worker. In addition to on-the-spot communication, Skedulo syncs with CRMs to help businesses improve process, strategy, and ultimately: profit.

The opportunity presents itself within the changing workforce in general. Baby boomers are retiring or nearing retirement, while tech-fluent millennials are representing a bigger piece of the job market. With workers who are already pros with using smart devices, onboarding this type of software is easier than ever.

By 2018, 70% of mobile workers are expected to be using a smart device (mobile, tablet, or hybrid). (Gartner)

In this comic-book inspired infographic designed by Column Five, you can witness the battle between “Manual Mayhem,” who aims to sabotage the mobile workforce with continued use of old-school methods, and “Super Software,” who fights for field service organizations to be as efficient as possible.

Source: Visual News

March 28, 2017

Guess The Correlation: A Game About Data Perception

“Guess the Correlation” is a human-based computation game that, while mildly entertaining, its main focus is on collecting information about how people perceive correlated data in scatterplots. The game asks players to guess how correlated two variables in a scatterplot are using the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC). The more accurate the guess, the better.

The PCC measures the linear correlation between two variables, X and Y, bounded by the values of +1 and -1. A positive linear correlation has a positive value, a negative linear correlation has a negative value, while 0 corresponds to data with no linear correlation (thanks, Wikipedia!).

The rules of the game are simple: if the player guesses within 0.05 of the true correlation they receive an extra life and 5 coins; if the player is within 0.10 of the true correlation they receive 1 coin; if they guess within over 0.10  they lose a life. Because the game’s main goal is to analyze data about correlation perception, the more people play, the more data is generated.

Every time a player guesses a correlation, the date, time, IP address, and data is automatically gathered and stored. The information collected is evaluated for statistical purposes and kept completely anonymous. If you want to help expand the stats, check out the game here.

Source: Visual News