Companies Have Big Data but Understanding the Value or How to Use it for a Competitive Advantage is Lacking in most organizations.As we continue to evolve online businesses and define Web 3.0, we must use an out-of-the-box approach to develop searchable instructions to make life easier.For example, in today's world of the Internet, we are mostly surfing in a one-dimensional pattern and asking simple questions like, "best Italian food near me".Applications like Yelp or mapping applications can assist in the amazing accuracy of selecting the best Italian restaurants within our vicinity.However, they are fairly limited as are search engines finding what you really want to do for the evening.

It would be so nice to have someone to help plan your weekend getaway, a camping trip in Colorado, or just an evening out with your partner.

Enter Web 3.0, where we have a personal assistant with us at all times making life easier and more enjoyable.Here is how it might work.I pick up my phone and perform a complex search or better yet talk to my device and say, "I want two tickets to the show Friday Night at the Kauffman Center and would like to have a nice Italian dinner before the show starts.After the show, I would love to get some gelato before returning home.Please send an invite to my wife to book her evening but spare her the details as it is a surprise".

The Web 3.0 assistant would then analyze where these events are located, secures tickets to the show, determine when we need to be done with dinner as it places reservations, schedules an Uber to pick us up on time, and ensures we enjoy a worry-free evening.Oh, by the way, they might even search ThredUp for the wife and recommend clothing options available that can be delivered in time for the events to begin.OK, send me a few options to choose from please.Too bad ThredUp cannot order clothing to fit me just yet as they tailor to Women and Children.However, maybe 32 Bar Blues can chime in here and send me a nice bluesy sports coat in my size that will compliment her attire and the event we are attending.

This artificial intelligence layer will complement Web 1.0 and 2.0 infrastructure and utilize the Deep Web algorithms to categorize and use data efficiently.

It seems simple but most businesses are not equipped to handle this level of service to their customers just yet.Most companies have a vast amount of data that they do not know what to do with and searchable architecture is just not there yet.Companies are much better at collecting data from their customers, and competitors than they are at analyzing that data and designing technologies around its use to make life easier.Interoperating between the websites becomes a challenge but maybe that is where the Web 3.0 search engine comes in handy.

Feng Zhu, who teachesDigital Innovation and Transformation(Links to an external site.)

at the Harvard Business School, illustrated how big data is making new business models possible. "Most organizations today use data analytics to optimize or improve their existing businesses. But to take full advantage of data analytics, it will be important for them to consider the following two strategic questions: 1) Can I use my data to offer new products or services to my existing customers? 2) Can I leverage data to serve those customers who are currently not served by me or my competitors?"

To add to what Feng Zhu is teaching, we might also consider adding 3) How can we best interact with our competitors to collaborate with to complement my business model as we did in the search above.

Amazon is using big data more effectively than most of its competition.They also have a key advantage of not only being able to provide just about anything you can think of purchasing but they have invested in big data architecture with their smart home technologies surrounding television and active listening technology.In today's world, it almost seems that if you are not selling through the Amazon platform then you are getting left behind with potential sales.That is why many organizations use AWS and the Amazon platform to market and sell their goods and services.

As an example, down in Texas, a local apiarist decided to sell his products online to help drive business to his rural hobby farm outside of Dallas turning it into a very profitable business that employees several people as they do what they love to do and make a living.After building a honey business in a rural North Texas town, and eventually taking things online selling on Amazon, a once-amateur beekeeper finds a way to create some buzz around his favorite hobby back home.

Questions arise about Amazon and if it is the right solution for any business.We all know that may not be the case.ThredUp, as an example, was becoming a monolithic customer, growing by 100% per year, running on the Amazon AWS platform before it decided it needed more options and expertise to evolve their company into the next phase of their online business.They reached out to a company called Kubernetes to help them speed up their performance and provide a better customer experience.Kubernetes segmented their massive database into small containers using the agile processes of project management to improve performance and server response times.A hidden value of this project resulted in "rapid deployment of new services and a decreased by 56% of hardware costs for this business while the number of services ThredUP runs has doubled".Finding the right company to host your services is key to your ebusiness model and plan.

Yes, we can use a company like Amazon to quickly spin up an online retail presence that can reach customers from all over the world, but we must determine if the platform we choose is right for our model.Companies that are utilizing cloud-native technologies are able to rapidly test and deploy services using agile processes to ensure success with product rollouts in record times.

"Our future's all about automation, and behind that, cloud-native technologies are going to unlock our ability to embrace that and go full force towards the future."

CHRIS HOMER, COFOUNDER/CTO, THREDUP

As we continue to thrive online performing basic offerings and then discover new ways to reach our customers, this is a value-added step we must consider meeting the demand of our customers and evolve with them into the next generation of the online experience.

1. In the example of ThredUp, use figure 3.9 on page 118 of the course manual and explain which of the four business models are they using as they sell products to consumers, purchase products from customers, and resell these goods? Explain your answer or answers.
2. With research, how does this business model reduce the global use of natural resources and materials that are discarded annually?
3. How would this organization benefit from User-Contributed Content to help sell their goods and services?
4. Explain how the semantic web (p. 135) assists companies like ThredUP in their quest to offer the right size and customer age bracket with their products to their customers while allowing them to see what they may look like in that outfit.