SmartData Collective Exclusive

Cash flows and outlays / shutterstock

IT leaders often express dismay at the process involved in not only forecasting for CAPEX needs, but then stepping through arduous internal CAPEX budget approvals. What’s all the fuss with CAPEX, and why is it so difficult to obtain?[read more]

What is Big Data?

While everyone is talking about Big Data there are still a lot of misunderstandings about the term and what it really means. I would like to use this article to put a stake in the ground and define in simple terms what 'big data' is, and hope that with everyone's help we can create a complete definition.[read more]

Acqui-hiring talent

The concept of a growing company short on talent acquiring another company simply to fill those open spots is not a new one. Yahoo acquired 10 small companies prior to Tumblr and within days of the acquisitions, shuttered them and rolled the employees into different divisions of Yahoo.[read more]

Data warehouse lemmings?

Why do data warehouse projects fail? This, to me, is an interesting yet baffling subject – especially in this day and age – since we possess the tools, methods and skills to deliver them quickly and successfully, but so many still manage to fail. So I’ve gathered a few facts for you to ponder.[read more]

Social data on top 4 platforms

The top four social media channels, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, are all used for different purposes by different people and brands, but how do they use each other to market their own brands? Does Facebook have a Twitter page? Does Google+ have a LinkedIn page?[read more]

Google+ and Big Data

Data analytics and design are being integrated together with the Google+ redesign, but will it be enough for us to add another social network into our lives? Google already has a lot of your data but now they want ALL of your data in whatever form they can get it.[read more]

business skillset / shutterstock

Employees with technical skills are critical to enable an analytics program, but the ability to communicate, relate and navigate throughout an organization—so called “softer skills”—are especially needed to propagate analysis and communicate the impact of data-driven decision-making.[read more]

Big Data jobs

It has been highly chronicled that the Big Data talent shortage is turning into a storm of epic proportions; the number of Big Data Analytics positions is expected to reach 4 million globally by 2015. So will H1-B visa holders be the solution to the Big Data talent shortage? Yes, if a few things happen.[read more]

data archive / shutterstock

Preserving knowledge for generations is no easy task. Key components of this massive undertaking include decisions in technology, architecture, data storage, and data accessibility. What are steps to architect a solution to keep your own data safeguarded and accessible long-term?[read more]

Flipboard's social data

Flipboard is a social network online aggregation magazine originally designed out of a brainstorming session between founders Mike McCue and Evan Doll. They posed the question to each other, “What would the web look like if it was designed from scratch?”[read more]

big data security

Today's security systems still have long ways to go before being fully integrated in true Big Data sense. Security professionals need to be able to get increasing value from the data they already collect and analyze, on top of the data they still are not getting. Here are some key considerations.[read more]

cloud solutions / shutterstock

When your company is evaluating new cloud-based software solutions, it’s important to bring the right people to the table to drive the discussion. Evaluating a new data hosting solution requires an integrated approach. Here are some key tips for putting together the best team for the job.[read more]

It’s my particular pleasure to announce that Cindy Weng has joined Smart Data Collective and the Social Media Today team as our Community Digital Strategist on the SDC site. Cindy is currently pursuing her PHD at Northwestern, in Media, Technology and Society, but also holds a B.S. cum laude from the University of Maryland’s School of Business.[read more]

Big data analytics give us unprecedented power to leverage the ever-increasing volumes of data. Now combine this with robotic technology and you could see 'big data enabled robots' challenging us for almost any of our jobs - including knowledge worker jobs![read more]

In my article, “Data Integration Roadmap to Support Big Data and Analytics,” I detailed a five step process to transition traditional ETL infrastructure to support the future demands on data integration services. It is always helpful if we have an insight into the end state for any journey.[read more]