Policy and Governance

IT threats / shutterstock

The U.S. government released a warning about the increasing risk of cyber attacks targeting critical energy corporations. While the majority of previous attacks have involved stealing trade secrets, the newest threats appear to be motivated by the intention to shut down industrial machinery and energy delivery.[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]

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]

spreadsheet / shutterstock

Data management professionals have long and sometimes rather quixotically driven organizations to “get past the spreadsheet culture.” Maybe that’s misguided. The recent furor over a widely read paper may show how we can look to scientific peer review for a way to govern data, spreadsheets and all.[read more]

Facebook & big data analytics

Facebook has massive data analytics capabilities and it has a lot of data - big data. It has our personal details, our likes, our updates, our pictures and videos. However, my big question here is: are they overstepping the mark by exploiting this (even very personal) data?[read more]

IT disaster plan / shutterstock

When considering business continuity and disaster recovery options, there’s really only one constant from business to business: it’s important to have a plan. If something happens and there isn’t a plan, your company may never be able to get back on its feet again. But where do you start?[read more]

big data & healthcare

With so much waste and opportunity in the healthcare industry, it should be no surprise that quite a few software vendors are focusing on Big Data–and not just behemoths like IBM. Start-ups like Explorys, Humedica, Apixio, and scores of others have entered the space.[read more]

A new analytic architecture

Gartner recently published a new research note called ‘Market Trends: The Collision of Data Discovery and Business Intelligence Will Cause Destruction.’ (Data discovery is Gartner’s term for Business Discovery.) The Gartner report sets out two possible scenarios.[read more]

Data analysis team

Ron Johnson, the retail superstar behind the Apple store and Target’s turnaround, was hired to bring Penney back to profitability—and failed. It should be a lesson for us all. Company leaders—CEOs and boards—should hold decision-makers accountable for making data driven decisions.[read more]

Big Data privacy / shutterstock

Technological progress has always led to heated debates about the threats a new technology would pose for society and humanity. Entering the era of big data, the fear is loss of privacy. There are three different parties we can look at in taking care of that: Governments, Organisations and Consumers.[read more]

in-memory action plan

You need to change the way you look at IT infrastructure, applications, and the infrastructure that’s running those applications. Truly, with some of these new technologies like in-memory technology, there are no barriers, things that you can’t do. Words like “no, we can’t do it” start to go away.[read more]

agent data management / shutterstock

I read a lot these days about how companies should pay more attention to contact center agent or customer service representative satisfaction, as it can have an impact on customer experience and meeting key customer-related metrics. Here's what companies need to consider.[read more]

Tom Horton, American Airlines CEO

American Airlines suffered a computer outage due to a software problem in both their main and backup systems, according to the CEO. When I worked in IT, we had rigorous backup plans in case of software failures. What are you doing to mistake-proof your IT infrastructure and software?[read more]