Cognitive computing is rapidly infusing every aspect of our lives. As 2017 approaches, the cognitive revolution--riding on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and data science -- is coming home to roost more rapidly than many realize. Here are my predictions for the many ways in which you may encounter cognitive technology. Most e-commerce applications now include in-line chatbots that pop out automatically and/or at your request to answer your questions, recommend products for you to purchase, and otherwise make your customer experience more seamless and satisfying. Behind the natural-language conversational interface are cognitive algorithms that are built and tuned by data scientists through real-world experiments, A/B tests, machine learning, and predictive analytics assets in line to merchants' applications.

Many retailers continue to struggle to keep up with the disruptions that digital natives have brought to the industry. Companies such as Amazon introduced recommendation engines and rating systems. And in the last decade, the iPhone and Android mobile devices have put even more power into consumers' pockets. Shoppers can be in one physical retail location and search for a better deal elsewhere using their smart phones. The world is shifting underneath retailers' feet.

Virtual reality and artificial intelligence products took center stage at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the platform where the world's trends in scientific and technological innovations are put on display, with companies from China, which accounted for one third of the leading exhibitors at the event, visibly demonstrating their newfound stature. Suning also hosted the "China Innovation North America Summit Forum", giving 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) home appliance makers around the world a presentation on how to fast track their products into the Chinese market. The organizer of the exhibition was extremely complimentary in his comments about Suning. In a chat with Suning's exhibition team, Consumer Technology Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro said CES is a platform that connects all the participants in the world of high tech, while Suning is an important sales platform for innovative technological products and services, and, as a result of the role that Suning plays, he looks forward to seeing further cooperation between the two parties. Executive vice president of IT at Suning Commerce Joshua Xiang explained: "With the success of its transition to e-commerce, Suning plans to introduce intelligence into the retail industry as a new driving force for the further development of online retail".

Technology is the future of retail. Digital data, machine learning, cloud-powered analytics and the Internet of Things will separate the wheat from the chaff in tomorrow's retail industry. A recent Sector Insights government report said that retailers will need to embrace the latest technology trends, such as big data, and have the skills to work with digital systems if they are to be successful in the future. The retail industry is on the whole a voracious adopter of modern data-centric technology, aping the manufacturing world by using big data analytics to streamline supply chains, and using smartphone apps and wireless beacons to harvest customer data to deliver better service. However, despite having the technology to collect and access large amounts of digital data, retailers fail to put it to effective use.

Virtual reality and artificial intelligence products took center stage at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the platform where the world's trends in scientific and technological innovations are put on display, with companies from China, which accounted for one third of the leading exhibitors at the event, visibly demonstrating their newfound stature. Suning also hosted the "China Innovation North America Summit Forum", giving 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) home appliance makers around the world a presentation on how to fast track their products into the Chinese market. The organizer of the exhibition was extremely complimentary in his comments about Suning. In a chat with Suning's exhibition team, Consumer Technology Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro said CES is a platform that connects all the participants in the world of high tech, while Suning is an important sales platform for innovative technological products and services, and, as a result of the role that Suning plays, he looks forward to seeing further cooperation between the two parties. Executive vice president of IT at Suning Commerce Joshua Xiang explained: "With the success of its transition to e-commerce, Suning plans to introduce intelligence into the retail industry as a new driving force for the further development of online retail".

Summary: In this review of Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trends report for 2016 we'll look for the advanced analytics that makes these trends possible. It's that time of year again when Mary Meeker, the great seer of the internet once again releases her annual Internet Trends 2016 report. If by chance you don't know who Ms. Meeker is she is a partner in the VC firm Kliener Perkins and is acclaimed by Forbes to be the 77th most powerful woman in the world. She started issuing these reports in 1995 at Morgan Stanley and was and is still widely regarded as a guru of the internet. Say what you will, and she is a bit of controversial character, she gathers and analyzes voluminous amounts of data and has a well deserved track record for spotting big picture trends before they are widely recognized.

Will skills be as vibrant as apps?

Companies and researchers unveiled potential use cases of machine learning and its benefits were discussed and debated at length. Nevertheless, as organisations were opened to the realm of possibilities capable with machine learning solutions, hesitation grew and few made the leap towards a data-driven journey. But as the necessity of machine learning becomes more evident, 2017 will see trepidation and hesitation replaced by yearning ambition. More than providing a competitive advantage, enterprises will come to see the technology as an essential part of their "survival kit" in an ever competitive market. The rise and growth of IoT throughout 2016 has provided fertile ground for organisations wanting to adopt machine learning solutions.

Now is the time of the year when every marketer should well reflect on the achievements of 2016 and holistically examine what the New Year is going to mean for marketing, branding, and business. With this article I proceed with a good tradition by following-up on my previous and related articles for 2016, 2015, and 2014. As we all know, paying attention to what's on the horizon does offer valuable insights. Knowing the below-listed 16 marketing trends which I consider as highly relevant for 2017, should help you to build, expand, and keep strong brands. Although this should have been ingrained in every marketer s DNA for years, however, with all the data, tech, and buzzwords flying around, one of the biggest marketing challenges of 2017 will be to stay calm, focused, and to be obsessed with the only one that matters: Your customer! How to identify her, to reach her, to engage her, to make her purchase, to have her stay loyal, to make her to recommend you, and to have her even re-purchase more of your products in the future? There is a certain risk that (marketing) managers – more than ever – get confused and fall into the trap of mixing up data-driven insights with a real customer-centric business philosophy. Therefore successful companies and brands don t worship the data gods for the sake of it; instead they have a comprehensive and deeply rooted digital transformation strategy in place which is flanked by a crystal clear marketing action plan. Enhanced and lived by every employee of the organization and not only by a chief digital officer who very often is floating around the company in search for a home base.

After the close of last year's holiday shopping season, sales of dollhouses mysteriously surged on Amazon.com. After a local news report about a six-year old who ordered a dollhouse using her parents' Amazon Echo, the anchorman said ""I love that little girl saying'Alexa ordered me a dollhouse.'" And mistakenly, Echo speakers that heard the news started making orders themselves. Enabled on every Amazon Alexa app by default, voice purchasing mines your previous Amazon purchases and other products available through the Amazon Prime subscription shopping service to let you easily order items without having to browse the company's website. So the best way to ensure something like this doesn't happen to you is to disable or restrict the feature.