Predictive Analytics: 8 Things to Keep in Mind (Part 7)

Theme 7: Prototype, Pilot, Scale

Edison did not invent the light bulb. He took a working concept and developed hundreds of prototypes rapidly, tested them and along the way figured out improvements that were required to scale his invention for commercial use. Julian Trubin writes about the prototyping process:

In 1879 Edison obtained an improved Sprengel vacuum pump, and it proved to be the catalyst for a breakthrough. Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb glowed for 40 hours. Soon, by changing the shape of the filament to a horseshoe it burned for over 100 hours and later, by additional improvements, it lasted for 1500 hours.

Edison’s primary contribution to the development of light bulb was that he carried the idea from laboratory to commercialization, taking into consideration not only technical problems, but also issues like economics and the manufacturing of bulbs.

We took a leaf from Edison’s book when we developed, our prototype, pilot and scale approach to deploy analytics solutions for clients.

In our experience rapid prototyping is essential to show the value of the initiative to senior executives.  One of our health care clients …
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