Businesses are inundated with options of vendors who provide analytical products. We’re told in no uncertain terms that without real-time analytical capabilities we are being out-strategized, out-advertised and out-personalized with every passing second. “Real-time real talk” is a critical survey of real-time systems and their application in the areas of retail and marketing. We’ll cut through the hype and get to the heart of what it means to be real-time, and explore some of the real-time systems being built today in the Nordstrom Data Lab.