This is Harnham’s weekly news digest, the place to come for a quick breakdown of the week’s top news stories from the world of Data & Analytics.Scientific Approach: The new interpretable machine learning approach that may help to combat antibiotic resistance.Scientists have developed a new technique to help identify the mechanism of action of antibiotics which may be helpful in combatting antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance has long been a public health concern and finding ways to overcome it, have proven challenging at best. One approach has been to re-purpose drugs available on the market. As these drugs will have already passed the necessary safety processes and approval checks, this will save a huge amount on the overall cost of clinical trials.In recent years, numerous machine learning (ML) approaches have been developed to identify potentially promising antibiotics, but there has been roadblock. While the method is able to report back on thousands of bioactive molecules, it still remains unclear which possess the crucial novel mechanism of action. The bioactivity testing that is then required at this stage is costly and time-consuming. As a result, computational methods that can prioritise molecules that do have novel mechanisms are in great demand. Enter InterPred, an interpretable technique able predicting bioactivity of small molecules and their mechanism of action. InterPred enables assigning chemical moieties that are responsible for bioactivity. After analysing bioactivity data of several thousand molecules against bacterial and fungal pathogens available from Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery and a US Food and Drug Association-approved drug library, InterPred was able to identify five known links between moieties and mechanism of action.Read more here.Fintech Futures: How open banking could help ease the burden of the cost-of-living crisis As inflation skyrockets, thousands of people across the UK are witnessing a depletion of their financial security and are being forced to change their personal finance habits to reflect these difficult circumstances. As many pursue personal finance support and advice, one option often overlooked is open banking. Millions of people are stuck using ineffective financial services or are prevented from improving their lives due to poor access to the right financial products. Open banking gives people the chance to receive tailored support with their money management by allowing regulated companies to securely access and analyse their bank account data. Certain third parties are then given access to the consumer’s bank account data so they can provide more personalised products and services, all with the consumers consent of course. Not only will open banking improve affordability and transparency, but it will also help consumers to find the best products and services for them and break volatile debt cycles. Open banking needs to be more widely adopted and will require concerted effort from regulators and the government for it to become mainstream.Read more about this type of banking here. PYMTS.com: How Behavioural Analytics can help tackle Identity Fraud?Our world has become increasingly digital, with eCommerce sales expected to reach $1 trillion this year, a significant milestone that demonstrates the extent of this shift. However as online engagement increases, as does opportunities for fraud, particularly when it comes to online banking. However, Behavioural Analytics is stepping into the fore as an antidote to some of the lengthier fraud techniques currently on the market. Customer authentication for example, uses identity verification systems that have high levels of customer friction, where users are required to enter multiple pieces of information or by stopping the purchase or application process entirely to double-check the user’s identity. A case study found that an online lender suffered up to 70 per cent attrition in the completion of a simple loan process, with most customers deciding to abandon the application entirely.Behavioural Analytics can bypass this without compromising on fraud detection. Unlike these more intrusive verification systems such as multifactor authentication (MFA), Behavioural Analytics does not require customers to perform additional steps but instead observes their entry of names, usernames, addresses or other identifying details that are already required. While legitimate customers will enter their own names quickly and with few errors, a fraudster, for example might introduce misspellings or might copy-paste the name from another form. Read more about how Behavioural Analytics is set to revolutionise Fraud Detection here. Internet Retailing: Metaverse makeover – better customer insight tools launchedThe Metaverse has launched a major update this week that includes tools to create more immersive experiences, but also for allowing better insight and data analytics to flow from metaverse use.With increasing numbers of retailers looking to harness the metaverse, the need to understand and apply customer data both from and to this new platform has become vital.Adobe is leading the way, unveiling its own tools to help facilitate this. Adobe Analytics is the solution of choice for many industries, providing insights for brands to understand the effectiveness of cross-channel experiences and marketing campaigns. Recently there is growing trend around streaming media and immersive experiences which has created new opportunities to glean additional information about consumer engagement and behaviours. In reaction to this, Adobe is introducing new innovations to help brands capitalise on these trends. For the metaverse, Adobe is previewing support for metaverse analytics and can now seamlessly extend the reach of Adobe Analytics to new and emerging channels.The metaverse will allow brands to measure and analyse specific events, such as interactions across multiple metaverses. This data can then be combined with insights across other channels like the website to better understand changing consumer preferences.Read more about the changes here. We’ve loved seeing all the news from Data & Analytics in the past week, it’s a market full of exciting and dynamic opportunities. To learn more about our work in this space, get in touch with us at info@harnham.com.
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