One of the really interesting trends that I’m seeing in the marketplace relates to consultancies. Historically, the primary business model for consultancies was to sell their expertise and services. Every customer would get a unique service offering that was defined specifically for them.

Having spoken with many companies, I’ve learned that while they all monitor their application performance, infrastructure, product usage, conversion rates and a variety of other user experience parameters, very few monitor the actual transactions from their payment provider.

This article discusses four bottlenecks in BigData applications and introduces a number of tools, some of which are new, for identifying and removing them. These bottlenecks could occur in any framework but a particular emphasis will be given to Apache Spark and PySpark.

When Jackie Edwards wrote “Keep On Running” back in 1965, he certainly wasn't thinking about the future of computing. But, it's the Spencer Davis Group grooves that is the soundtrack playing in my head when I think about Kubernetes and the business value it brings. Enabling your environment to “Keep On Running” is just one of many of Kubernetes’ value adds.

Customer experience is a key factor in competitive differentiation in the digital economy. The online business model has changed, and today, the focus has shifted from brands to customers. It would not be an exaggeration to say that customer experience plays a central role in any business model.

Ongoing reports of the “Retail Apocalypse” were fueled once again in 2019 with more than a dozen well-known retail brands closing their doors forever. On the flip side, a “Retail Renaissance” is well underway – and signs indicate that retail leaders that have already invested in their digital transformation journey will continue to reap rewards well into the future.