‘Data science’ is not a scary phrase, it’s imperitive for businesses to stay competitive

The New Program Dedicated to Keeping Mississippi at the Forefront of Technology

“Those who own data own the future, but only if you know what data you’ve got,” said Steve Holyer said during his presentation at Big Data LDN. And he’s right. In 2019, data is being created, stored and shared at an alarming rate, but data is useless unless you can collate it, analyze it and learn from it, which is where data science comes in.

What is data science?

If you see dark clouds, you can probably predict a storm. This is because your brain sees and feels this information, and from your past experience you know it means a storm. You probably move inside, because your prediction led you to a logical solution. Scale the clouds up to include data from almost everything – smart phone locations, CCTV footage, grocery store purchases and online searches. Brains get overwhelmed with this much data, but technology doesn’t.

Data science is a combination of tools, algorithms and machine learning that finds patterns from data. It will use known information and historical evidence combined with machine learning algorithms to make future predictions. Data analytics and data science give context and help form patterns – in the information age, this is cruical.

Why is it important?

Firstly, like getting out of the rain, data science can make predictions, which can be adressed and resolved with logical conclusions. Secondly, when data is being collected and collated, anything that stands out is noticed. This means that posibilities of risk and fraud are seen in minutes, not days or months. Thirdly, organizations can see, at a glance, who’s buying what, where and when. By understanding the target audience, any company can improve its customers’ experiences.

Introducing it into business

In the information age, data scientists play important roles in businesses, but not every company has the capacity for them. This is why companies like data.world were created. This Texas software startup creates a searchable, cloud-based catalog of a business’ data. It then uses specific graphing technology to help visually explain and map that data. Think of Facebook’s newsfeed and profiles mixed with Google’s searchability and library of information. data.world’s catalog is an inventory of metadata. The company uses it to classify and filter data, which is then better rediscovered, shared, understood and used.

Are you developing a new data science tool? Did you know your work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes. Click here to learn more about our technical expertise.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative. 

18 billionaires from Dallas-Fort Worth make Forbes’ 400 Richest Americans List in 2017

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Forbes released its annual 400 Richest Americans list on Tuesday, October 17 and the verdict is in: 18 of the 34 Texans who made the cut call Dallas-Fort Worth “home”.

The richest Texan is Alice Walton, 68, the Walmart heiress who resides in Dallas-Fort Worth and whose estimated net worth is at $38.2 billion. She ranks No. 13 on the Forbes 400. She is an active curator of art, serving as Chairman of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas and having supported the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.

Texas’ economy is diverse but its main sources of wealth are oil, gas, and pipelines. The Forbes 400 reflected this with Robert Bass, Ray Lee Hunt, Trevor Rees-Jones, and Sid Bass among DFW residents in the Top 400 whose fortunes were built on oil. Others like Andrew Beal and H. Ross Perot Senior and Junior made their wealth through real estate. Sports also played a role, with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, worth an estimated $5.6 billion, rounding out the top three richest Texans and No. 95 in the country. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has an estimated $3.3 billion, making him the 21st richest Texan.  Cuban is also an investor on the television show, “Shark Tank.”

Bill Gates remains the richest American, with $89 billion. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, claimed the No.2 spot with $81.5 billion, replacing Warren Buffett who previously held title for fifteen years and now sits at No. 3 with $78 billion. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg rounded the top four Richest Americans with a net worth of $71 billion.

2017 has proven a successful year for the country’s wealthiest Americans. Forbes’ 400 criteria jumped from 2016’s $1.7 billion net worth threshold to $2 billion. The Forbes 400’s total net worth is $2.7 trillion compared to last year’s $2.4 trillion.

Despite the minimum increase, 22 newcomers made the Forbes 400 list with 14 of them being self-made entrepreneurs. Notable innovators include Don Vultaggio, founder of Arizona ice tea and Tito Beveridge who created Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Netflix founder Reed Hastings also notably landed a spot on the Forbes 400 with an estimated $2.2 billion.

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur in Dallas-Fort Worth engaging in R&D to develop new products and maybe one day make the Forbes 400 Richest Americans List? You could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and can receive up to 14% on your expenses. To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today.

Who We Are:

Swanson Reed is Texas’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firm, offering tax credibility assessments, claim preparation, and advisory services. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program in Texas, from claim prep & audit compliance to claim disputes.  

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative

Outdated Shopping Mall Proposed as Dallas Location for Amazon’s HQ2

Dallas Mall

Last Friday, cities in North Texas submitted their bids to become the home of Amazon’s second headquarters HQ2. To set it apart from the other 50 North American cities vying for the spot, Dallas’ proposals ranged from the practical – such as highlighting the upcoming bullet train project from Dallas to Houston – to the ironic, which suggested the online retail giant take over the location of the Valley View Mall, an outdated shopping mall.

Three Dallas developers, Hillword Urban, KDC, and Crescent Real Estate, had proposed the Valley View Mall location at LBJ Freeway and Preston Road as a potential site for HQ2. With the rise of online retail giants like Amazon, the Mall has struggled to adjust to fluctuating consumer trends in the 2000s and gradually, its major department stores closed one after the other: Bloomingdale’s in 1990, Macy’s and Dillard’s in 2008, JCPenney in 2013, and finally Sears in July 2017. The prospect of Amazon’s HQ2 replacing the Mall therefore adds a symbolic, ironic flare. The Mall is near three airports: Addison, Love Field, and DFW International, making it another appealing option since Amazon had included proximity to an airport as one of its requirements for HQ2. Dallas-based architects from Omniplan have already drafted a design for a 500,000 square foot building for HQ2. If successful, Amazon would move into HQ2 by 2019 and expand the space to 8 million square feet by 2027.

Texas is a prime prospect for HQ2. 20,000 Amazon employees already work in the Lone Star State, making it the third state with the most Amazon workers, aside from California and Washington State. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had announced last month the company’s intention to expand to a second headquarters with a commitment to invest $5 billion to the new city and create 50,000 jobs in the area.  The Dallas Regional Chamber is in the process of preparing an executive summary of North Texas’ best proposals to send to Amazon for the company’s October 19 deadline.

Are you conducting R&D projects to build and improve existing buildings like Valley View Mall? You may be eligible for the R&D tax credit and can get up to 14% back on your expenses. If you would like to find out how your company could benefit from R&D Tax Credits, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today.

Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE credits as well as CPE credits for CPA’s.  For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.

Is R&D A Valuable Measurement of Innovation?

Preparation Pointers from Swanson Reed

The Relationship Between R&D and Innovation

It is well known that when performed effectively research and development (R&D) can increase the value of a company. However, Forbes writes that this is commonly misconstrued as it has been claimed that research and development spending directly translates to a measure of innovation. While R&D and innovation do correlate, they are not a perfect formula.

Tendayi said, “having a great R&D process and achieving market success with technologies we invent are two different things.” He goes on to suggest that R&D spending may be an effective measure of best practice within a particular industry.

In gauging the correlation between R&D and innovation rankings, the 2016 report of the Top 10 Innovative Companies provides the perfect example. Five of the ten ranking innovative businesses were also ranked in the top twenty for R&D spending in 2016, while the remaining five spent between $4.5 to $0.7 billion US dollars. Effectively, this demonstrates the necessity for research and development within innovation, as all 10 of the raking companies invest largely in R&D, however, it also demonstrates that spending was not the solo contributor to innovative success.

What is the Perfect Formula?

A successful company is capable of marrying innovation with market understanding. As Forbes explains, effective innovation solves for both technical and market risk factors. This is often left behind in lab based companies where business models are overlooked.

According to Forbes entrepreneurial expert, the formula for success continues to fund research and development programs that meet industry standards while implementing a strong invention to market management process making the improvements and inventions accessible on the market.

If  you would like to discuss the R&D Tax Incentive further, please do not hesitate to contact one of Swanson Reed’s offices today.