Time series prediction problems are becoming increasingly high-dimensional in modern applications, such as climatology and demand forecasting. For example, in the latter problem, the number of items for which demand needs to be forecast might be as large as 50,000. In addition, the data is generally noisy and full of missing values. Thus, modern applications require methods that are highly scalable, and can deal with noisy data in terms of corruptions or missing values. However, classical time series methods usually fall short of handling these issues. In this paper, we present a temporal regularized matrix factorization (TRMF) framework which supports data-driven temporal learning and forecasting. We develop novel regularization schemes and use scalable matrix factorization methods that are eminently suited for high-dimensional time series data that has many missing values. Our proposed TRMF is highly general, and subsumes many existing approaches for time series analysis. We make interesting connections to graph regularization methods in the context of learning the dependencies in an autoregressive framework. Experimental results show the superiority of TRMF in terms of scalability and prediction quality. In particular, TRMF is two orders of magnitude faster than other methods on a problem of dimension 50,000, and generates better forecasts on real-world datasets such as Wal-mart E-commerce datasets.

Innovation that lets firms reach out and touch their customers is moving at warp speed, building on expectations that were unthinkable just five years ago. When today's consumer has questions about your product, it is no longer acceptable to wait for the answers -- they must be addressed in real time or the customer will turn to the next readily available and better option. How can your organization convert this impatient prospect into a customer and lay the groundwork for loyalty as we know it today? Our baker's dozen of customer experience trends for 2017 suggest a number of great starting points. The survey-driven Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES) each get at different pieces of the puzzle, but all of them oversimplify.

Alexa and Siri become new retail customers: Home-based digital assistants like Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri will proliferate and expand into eCommerce, enabling consumers to'shop by voice'. These assistants are becoming pervasive as the ecosystems expand outside the home; Amazon is already integrating Alexa into Ford, BMW, and Hyundai autos and Apple is a growing force in cars. IoT hits a tipping point: The Internet of Things (IoT) has been talked about a lot for both in-home and in-store applications. Omnipresent omni-channel: Platforms are being put in place that provide consistent relevant content across every digital touchpoint while ensuring a cohesive and comprehensive user experience across devices and channels both inside and outside the store. Relevancy required: Strategic hyper-personalization goes from a'nice to have' to a necessity to keep customers (especially millennials and younger shoppers) engaged and to make the most efficient use of marketing budgets.

Amazon is exploring the use of giant airships to serve as mobile, flying warehouses that could help the online retail giant deliver more of its goods by drone. You might already be familiar with Amazon's drone delivery service, which recently received a demo in Britain for the first time. But the idea for a fleet of large airships, disclosed in filings to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, expand on those ambitions dramatically. Imagine you're at a baseball game and wanted to buy a meal or a jersey without ever leaving your seat. The system Amazon describes would allow you to place an order and receive the item within minutes.

Computers powered by artificial intelligence are smart enough to threaten a range of jobs, whether computers developing treatment plans for cancer patients or Amazon.com That impact is already being felt. The World Economic Forum expects automation, including AI, to result in the loss of at least 5 million jobs globally by 2020. In the view of Genpact (G) CEO NV "Tiger" Tyagarajan, however, the bigger question is how many jobs such technology will ultimately create. Amazon is opening a new brick-and-mortar store, but without a checkout line.

Most people don't buy a jar of relish every week. But when they decide to buy one from Ocado--the world's largest online-only grocery retailer--they don't have to scrabble at the back of the store. Instead, they call on robots and artificial intelligence to have it delivered to their door. Ocado claims that its 350,000-square-foot warehouse in Dorden, near the U.K.'s second city of Birmingham, is more heavily automated than Amazon's warehouse facilities. The company's task is certainly more challenging in many respects: most of the 48,000 lines of goods that it sells are perishable, and many must be chilled or frozen.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going mainstream, captivating TV viewers, moviegoers and bookworms alike. One example of AI in pop culture is HBO's "Westworld." In the show, a futuristic amusement park allows visitors to live out their fantasies through AI-enhanced technology that personalizes each experience. For retail marketers, this idea should sound familiar – not because of the robot cowboys, but because the best retailers are taking a similar approach to customer engagement. Imagine a world where every interaction is tailored specifically to each unique customer, such as receiving a list of product recommendations through a simple retina scan. That's not as far off as it may seem.

Amazon.com Inc.'s Echo voice-activated artificial-intelligence devices were the stars of what the e-commerce behemoth is calling its "best ever" holiday season. Seattle-based Amazon said the Echo family of devices sold by the "millions," at a rate nine times greater than during last year's holiday season. The Echo is a home speaker through which Amazon's customers interface with Alexa, a voice-activated software assistant; it became widely available to U.S. customers in summer 2015. A smaller version, which connects to speakers, is dubbed the Echo Dot; it was unveiled earlier this year. "Echo and Echo Dot were the bestselling products across Amazon this year,," Jeff Wilke, the head of Amazon's consumer division, said in a statement.

Computers powered by artificial intelligence are smart enough to threaten a range of jobs, whether computers developing treatment plans for cancer patients or Amazon.com That impact is already being felt. The World Economic Forum expects automation, including AI, to result in the loss of at least 5 million jobs globally by 2020. In the view of Genpact (G) CEO NV "Tiger" Tyagarajan, however, the bigger question is how many jobs such technology will ultimately create. Amazon is opening a new brick-and-mortar store, but without a checkout line.