Best Practices

spreadsheet / shutterstock

Most business users have no IT experience. They can only rely on the business spreadsheet software to complete such computing. However, the traditional business spreadsheet software is weak in calculation, which will bring about errors in the calculation process.[read more]

Tactical analytics: stay on the right path

From social media sentiment analysis to dynamic product pricing, we’re adopting more and more super-fast micro-decision systems to do what’s good “right now, right there” without much consideration for the cumulative effect over a longer period and a broader scope.[read more]

A tale of two BIs

All modern Information Technologies which are capable of improving the enterprise competitiveness fall in the scope of BI, such as ERP, CRM, Reporting tools, Data Computing, Statistical Analysis, Data Mining, OLAP, and ETL, etc. They can be divided into two categories: Desktop BI and Solution BI.[read more]

BI roadblocks?

People have been writing about the limitations of self-service BI for years. What does the failure of self-service BI mean for Big Data? Big problems. Unless self-service and pervasive BI become the norm, enterprises will never productively tap the business ROI from Big Data.[read more]

Cloud computing / shutterstock

At its most basic, cloud computing is about the ability to enhance enterprise value through more efficient use of IT resources. One of the more innovative ways to boost capacity and add capabilities in a cloud environment is by the virtualization of services and infrastructure.[read more]

Mobile & Decision Management: James Taylor

While at IBM IMPACT this year I was interviewed about Decision Management, Mobile and more. Check out this video to see the interview.[read more]

Big Data journey / shutterstock

While much around big data remains hype, many companies are in the fledging stages of drawing value from their big data corpus, and given an army of discussions and opinions around the topic, it’s still hard to find a clear roadmap to arrive at the Big Promise.[read more]

data flow

Crowdsourcing is an Internet-age phenomenon by which problems are distributed to “the crowd,” and those in the online community offer partial solutions. These partial solutions, when taken in aggregate, solve the overall problem. Today, crowdsourcing is contributing to scientific advances in health care.[read more]

big data privacy / shutterstock

One of the most discussed concerns surrounding big data today is privacy. While many powerful analytics are possible with the detailed data that is now collected on each of us, the sensitive nature of much of that data requires rethinking data practices and applications.[read more]

Future of Big Data / shutterstock

Big Data and ROI. Many of you will be asked to justify the investment you’re making in Big Data Analytics technology. ROI is key term you’ll hear. But companies that are trying to look at Data Analytics as a tactical budget item are in trouble. Here's why.[read more]

SaaS / shutterstock

Data stored in SaaS applications is often inaccessible to BI tools. This is a major headache to early adopters of SaaS applications. With on-premise applications, IT departments can bypass the application and access data directly from the underlying database.[read more]

big data discovery / shutterstock

There are four main types of discovery for business analytics: in no particular order, they are event, data, information and visual. Let’s consider each of them and the potential they hold for realizing full value from business analytics and big data investments.[read more]

Big Data Scientist / shutterstock

Yesterday we examined the skillset of a Big Data Analyst; today, let's take a look at what a good Big Data Scientist (aka "the sexiest job in the 21st century") has to be capable of doing. However, be forewarned: perhaps only a handful of big data scientists will have all skills as mentioned here.[read more]

Big Data analyst / shutterstock

A big data analyst needs to be able to support the business and management with clear and insightful analyses on the data at hand. This includes data mining skills, advanced modelling techniques, testing and creating and explaining results in clear and concise reports.[read more]

perception gap

Consumers believe Sears is just for tools and electronics; is this the perception Sears wants to portray? What is Kroger doing better than others are? Walmart tweets way more frequently than other brands, and consumers reciprocate. 4 brands, 1 week and 100,000 Tweets: this infographic lays it all out for you.[read more]