Smart Systems in Business

I'm moving this blog to the eZine, eBizQ:

http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/smartsystems/

A difference between (a) the posts in this blog that deal with sense and response and (b) the posts that deal with smart systems is this: The blog on smart systems also discusses how data is used to develop models that enable sense and respond systems to adapt their behavior.

Smart systems monitor the enterprise and its environment and they respond to events; they also adapt the processes by which they monitor and respond. This adaptation is represented in models that determine: what to monitor, how much value to place on data from different sources, how to fuse or correlate data from multiple sources across time, and how to evaluate probable future outcomes when different actions are taken. The new blog discusses model building and adaptation and how models are used in sense and respond applications.

The new blog is practical: it's primary aims are to (a) determine what smart systems mean for business, (b) where they should be used and where they are inappropriate, (c) examples of smart systems in business, (d) designs of smart systems and (e) best practices in implementing them. However, I'll also explore ideas from machine learning and statistical inference, decision theory, control theory, stochastic processes and game theory. My goal is to solicit your help to understand what smart systems are and how to best use them.