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information technology

No More CIO? At Forrester, New Title Signals New Approach to IT

November 29, 2011 by Ann All
with 286 views
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Back in 2009 I wrote about Forrester Research CEO George Colony's suggestion that the information technology (IT) function should be renamed the business technology function. I cited an interview with Colony in which he said such a change would help IT organizations improve their relationship with other business units and would result in... [read more]

Business Discovery Frees IT to Focus on Its Core Competencies

August 23, 2011 by Erica Driver
with 74 views
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I recently blogged about a presentation Donald Farmer (QlikView product advocate) did at one of the stops on the Business Discovery Tour. (See related blog post, “Donald Farmer’s Take on Business Discovery.”) We’ve got another person’s perspective to share with you; we also recorded a talk that Doug Laird, QlikTech’s VP of global... [read more]

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Why IT Doesn’t “Get” Analytics (and Why the Time is Right for Change)

December 13, 2010 by Meta S. Brown
with 1,519 views
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The moderator welcomed the audience and introduced the speaker. Each attendee is a valuable resource, with the power to purchase the product showcased in the presentation. The presence of each person is the result of a chain of actions requiring effort and expense to bring together. The speaker opened the presentation, spoke a few words, and then… nothing. No sound, no images, no communication at all. The webinar came to a silent and mysterious end. [read more]

Two pictures paint a thousand words…

May 4, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 193 views
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IT / Business Alignmentversus IT / Business IntegrationWhich is more likely to lead to sustained success?  See also: Business is from Mars and IT is from Venus and The scope of IT’s responsibility when businesses go bad. Note: I have just had it pointed out to me that I missed out HR from the above diagrams. I hope that none of the HR... [read more]

The scope of IT’s responsibility when businesses go bad

April 27, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 235 views
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Chief Information Officer (CIO) Network This article is another relating to a discussion on LinkedIn.com. As with my earlier piece, Short-term “Trouble for Big Business Intelligence Vendors” may lead to longer-term advantage, this was posted on the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Network group The thread was initiated by Patrick Gray... [read more]

The Register’s take on Microsoft and Oracle / Sun

April 22, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 277 views
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Today I read an article on The Register by Gavin Clarke. This was about Microsoft’s potential response to Oracle’s proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems and was entitled (rather cryptically in my opinion) Microsoft’s DNA won’t permit Oracle-Sun deal - Ballmer knows his knitting.Gavin quotes Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, as saying... [read more]

Recipes for success?

April 22, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 251 views
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I should acknowledge that I am indebted to a conversation that I had with John Collins on his blog, Views from the Bridge, for some of the themes I discuss in this article.  IntroductionTowards the end of a recent article on perseverance I referred to people’s desire to find recipes for success. Here’s what I said: Sometimes we want to... [read more]

Combinatorics

April 21, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 180 views
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Some of the furore following on from the announcement of the proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle appears to have died down today. However, taking a look round the blogosphere and various on-line discussion forums 1, there does not seem to be much of a consensus about Oracle’s motivations, or future plans for Sun. There... [read more]

Mergers and value

April 21, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 136 views
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Today’s big news is of course that Oracle and Sun Microsystems “have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash.”As Sun’s press release goes on to say, “the transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion”. At the time of writing, Sun’s stock was up nearly 36% and... [read more]

The dictatorship of the analysts

April 14, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 342 views
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Lest it be thought that I am wholly obsessed by the Business Intelligence vs Business Analytics issue (and to be honest I have a whole lot of other ideas for articles that I would rather be working on), I should point out that this piece is not focussed on SAS. In my last correspondence with that organisation (which was in public and... [read more]

The Apologists

April 7, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 332 views
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A whole mini industry has recently been created in SAS based on justifying Jim Davis’ comments to the effect that: Business Intelligence is dead, long live Business Analytics. An example is a blog post by Alison Bolen, sascom Editor-in-Chief, entitled: More notes on naming. While such dedication to creating jobs in the current economic... [read more]

Business Analytics vs Business Intelligence

March 28, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 1,443 views
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 “Business intelligence is an over-used term that has had its day, and business analytics is now the differentiator that will allow customers to better forecast the future especially in this current economic climate.”  Jim Davis  SVP and Chief Marketing Officer, SAS Institute Inc. The above quote is courtesy of an article reported on... [read more]

Tactical Meandering

March 25, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 163 views
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  tactics /táktiks/ n.pl. 2 a the plans and means adopted in carrying out a scheme or achieving some end. (O.E.D.)   meander /miándər/ n. 1 a a curve in a winding river etc. b a crooked or winding path or passage. (O.E.D.)  I was reminded of the expression “tactical meandering”, which I used to use quite a bit, by a thread on the... [read more]

The specific benefits of business intelligence in Insurance

March 24, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 133 views
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IntroductionInsurance – specifically Property Casualty Insurance – is the industry that I have worked within for the last twelve years. During this time, I managed teams spanning IT, Finance and Operations. However the successes that I am most proud of have been in the related fields of Business Intelligence and Cultural Transformation... [read more]

Trends in Business Intelligence

March 9, 2009 by Peter Thomas
with 175 views
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This year, as in every year since the phrase “Business Intelligence” first came to prominence, there have been a rash of predictions about what will happen with the area in 2009. I have linked to and commented on some of these myself on this blog. This article is my take on the area. I should however explain that there is a twist. These... [read more]