IMDM enables real-time processing of transactions to detect fraud by maintaining all data in-memory. This results in faster detection of fraud and faster action to eliminate fraud losses. IMDM easily integrates with different applications to manage several types of telecom fraud:

1. Toll Fraud or Compromised PBX/Voicemail Systems Fraud

Compromising a PBX/Voicemail system to call toll numbers is the top fraud loss category. Within minutes operators can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars by calling toll numbers that charge $5/minute or higher. IMDM allows analyzing call detail records (CDRs) in real time using a dynamic set of rules to minimize & eliminate this type of fraud.

2. Bypass Fraud

Bypass fraud manifests many different forms but essentially involves unauthorized traffic in an operator’s network. This can be difficult to detect but IMDM makes it easier by maintaining all real-time transactions in-memory to review the source of the transactions, the destination number, the cost of the call, etc. IMDM holds streaming data in-memory to prevent a denial-of-service attack that could have led to an operator’s network becoming totally unresponsive to their customers.

3. Credit Card Fraud

Telecom organizations get hit with several different kinds of credit card fraud related to charge backs, returned checks, card holder not present, etc. IMDM enables maintaining real-time and historical transactions in-memory to quickly analyze the root cause and prevent fraud. Leading credit card organizations are already using IMDM solutions to manage their fraud.

What’s been the impact of fraud on your organization? Could IMDM solutions be an option for you?

(This blog was originally written on the Real-Time Big Data Blog and has been republished on Reality Check)

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Get this mix right, though, and loyalty pays huge dividends in increasing the lifetime value of a customer, lower acquisition cost through referrals and a positive brand association that creates new business opportunities.

Online retailers, like Zappos, Nordstrom and Expedia, are leading examples of a customer-focused culture that has helped them attract & retain customers and further grow their business via word-of-mouth marketing. The best way to enrich customer relationships is by making customers feel special in every interaction they have with your company. This can be accomplished by following these three maxims for customer delight:

1. Personalize the shopping experience
This includes not only personalizing the products offered to customers but also specially tailored content and promotions. Research shows that personalization can deliver five to eight times the ROI on marketing spend and lift sales 10% or more.

2. Acknowledge and reward customer loyalty
Send customers thank you notes with special offers to let them know that you appreciate their loyalty. This will drive repeat purchases, reduce customer churn, grow word-of-mouth marketing and increase customer lifetime value.

3. Invest in the right technology solutions
In-Memory Data Management (IMDM) solutions are the perfect fit to add velocity to your customer experience while enabling personalization, loyalty based rewards, fraud management and predictive customer analytics, all in real-time. Choose technology that can seamlessly integrate with your existing environment and make the job of enriching your customer relationships a lot easier.

What makes you a loyal customer to your favorite brands? Share your secrets on why you love some brands and not others.

(This blog was originally written on the Real-Time Big Data Blog and has been republished on Reality Check)

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To capture the Big Data opportunity, manufacturers are quickly moving data out of slow disk-bound databases and into ultra-fast machine memory. Here are 10 ways that manufacturers can benefit from in-memory data management:

1.  Product design & development
Easily experiment with different design options for products by instantly manipulating large design files held in-memory.
2.  Planning & forecasting
Use terabytes of multiple data sets and historical information, in memory, to develop more accurate plans and forecasts.
3.  Contracting
Flag contract and service-level agreement (SLA) violations in real time.
4.  Procurement
Highlight best and worst performing vendors by comparing performance against a set of KPIs.
5.  Supply Chain
Optimize sourcing of raw materials from multiple vendors and track inventory positions in real time, even across multiple geographies and company divisions.
6.  Operations
Intelligently parse data from sensors and telematics to avoid breakdowns, conduct preventive maintenance, and improve manufacturing output.
7.  Marketing
Understand and refine marketing campaigns based on social feeds, customer reviews, and buying patterns.
8.  Logistics
Optimize truck routing in real time to boost delivery speed while reducing fuel costs.
9.  Customer Service
Delight customers with fast service by keeping profiles and account histories in memory.
10.  Maintenance
Gather real-time sensor data from shipped products to quickly gain intelligence about what causes breakdowns.

Simply put, in-memory computing is a big competitive differentiator for manufacturing companies. Have you moved your manufacturing business in-memory?

The post 10 Reasons Why Manufacturing Is Moving In-Memory appeared first on Reality Check.

As a result, more and more online gaming companies are turning to in-memory computing. Ditching disk-bound databases, they’re storing game objects and event data in ultra-fast RAM because — thanks to plummeting RAM prices — there’s no longer an excuse for forcing players to endure the annoyance of waiting for games to talk to a traditional database. In fact, at Terracotta, we’re seeing online gaming companies use BigMemory, our flagship in-memory data  solution, to address three of their biggest Big Data challenges:

1. Better, faster gameplay: Great games personalize their experiences based on a player’s preferences and gaming history. They also deliver complex interactions between the player, the environment, and other players. Top game makers are now using BigMemory to manage the exploding volume of data associated with these objects in machine memory, virtually eliminating slow disk interactions and greatly improving performance.

2. More realistic graphics: Online game makers traditionally relied on caching to deliver in-game graphics. Unfortunately, caching keeps only a small subset of a game’s landscape in memory to be served up quickly. Gaming companies have turned to BigMemory to store ALL of their maps and frames — terabytes of data — in memory for instant access. The result is dynamic frame generation based on events and player actions, adding freshness and excitement each time a game is played. .

3. Platform portability (with Java): Java is attractive to game makers because it’s easily ported to any JVM-supported OS, but Java has not traditionally been the preferred choice for gaming engines due to performance concerns, especially around garbage collection. With BigMemory, garbage collection performance problems are a thing of the past, and game makers can finally take full advantage of Java’s ubiquity. An in-memory, Java-based development environment greatly reduces development costs while opening up new revenue streams on previously unsupported platforms.

Terracotta’s flagship in-memory data solution, BigMemory, has been successfully deployed by several global online gaming companies to deliver seamless gaming experiences with lightning-fast performance. If you think your game and/or gaming platform might benefit from in-memory technology, please send me a note at gagan@terracotta.org or write a comment below. Also, check out this video — and beware: When you start using BigMemory, it can drive competitors crazy!

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