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Archives For November 30, 1999

My Year as an IBM Information Management Champion – Day 20+

May 30, 2013 — Leave a comment

My year on the IBM Champion Roller Coaster has started to pick up speed. I have been supporting the Big Data marketing teams with several activities recently. The two most visible are;

Big Data Bytes – May 31

May 31, 2013 2:00 PM ET

Big Data Bytes is a weekly videochat where we look at some of the hot articles, blog posts, and social chatter about topics related to big data. For Friday, May 31, our guests will be Richard Lee (@InfoMgmtExec) and Tom Deutsch (@thomasdeutsch). Richard has been a Management Consultant for more than 30 years and speaks at conferences around the world on key business issues related to Enterprise Information Management & Data Governance. Tom is big data program director at IBM and co-author of the popular books Understanding Big Data and Harness the Power of Big Data.

What the video chat LIVE on ibmbigdatahub.com/BigDataBytes

Follow and join in on Twitter using hashtag #BigDataBytes

I am looking forward to my chat with Tom Deutsch tomorrow (Friday)

 

IBM Big Data Hub (a Google+ Forum/Hangout)

https://plus.google.com/111782494410500764298/posts

I have a conversation with on the topic of “Operations Analysis”

  • Christy Maver IBM Big Data Product Marketing Manager

If you have time check these out and let me know what you think.

Stay tuned for my next installment where I write about my First 30-days as an IBM Champion

PS – Follow #IBMChampions on Twitter for more frequent updates.

 

In Big Data, Business Analytics, Governance, Information Governance, Information Management
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New Blog Series: “Organizational Design for Analytics Success”

November 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

Having survived the Year-long assault by the Big Data Hype Machine I have decided to lift my head above ground again and take on a subject that is very critical in my mind. With all of the talk about which platform to use, who’s has the most features, who is and isn’t a Data Scientist, etc., I find that few are talking about the foundation for true Analytics Success; the Organization itself. I believe that if you don’t create an Analytics-Driven Culture and then foster it with the Organizational Design that is Optimized for Success then it is game over.

Within this series I will focus on the Top-Down view of how to design your Organization for Analytics Success. Some of the key Focus Areas will include;

  • Vision, Mission & Direction
  • Organizational Design Principles
  • OCM in support of Transformation Change
  • Readiness, Core Competencies and Competitive Differentiation
  • Leadership vs Management vs Dictum
  • Achieving Quick Time-to-Value/Competitive Advantage

As I prepare the first segment in this series there is a good e-book from IBM that is worth reading; “The Five Keys to Business Analytics Program Success:”

https://www.analyticszone.com/homepage/web/displayAcePage.action

Stay Tuned for the First Installment in this Series.

In Big Data, Business Analytics, Governance
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Information on Demand 2012_Post Conference Wrap-up

October 30, 2012 — 1 Comment

Nate Silver – Author of “The Signal and the Noise”

 

As we shift our focus from the mania of IOD to Super Storm Sandy and settle back into our weekly routines, it strikes me just how much I was saw and learned at this year’s IOD. Having missed the last two IOD’s due to reasons that I won’t get into here, I was a bit overwhelmed at first by the sheer growth in the number of Keynotes and Sessions/Tracks to choose from and the . I went to several Partner sessions on my first day of IOD (Sunday) to get a flavor for the InfoSphere Information Server 9.1/MDM Server 10.2 roll-out plans and to mentally/physically prepare myself for the activities to follow. It was clearly not enough. I found that once the official event kicked off I was juggling 2-3 sessions for every time slot available over all 4 days. I literally was slammed right up to the last event on Th before bolting for the airport. As I sit at my desk in the Client Site facility that I work out of I am having withdrawal symptoms in terms of the limited amount of information and activities that my days now consist of. I will soon be counting the days until next year’s event.

For the Captain’s of Industry whom follower my blog and Tweets, let me leave you with a few carefully chosen take-aways in terms of strategic direction and leadership;

1.- The leverage and exploitation of Information is, and forever will be, the most significant and sustainable source of Competitive Advantage that your organization has available to it. It is up to you to set the strategy and direction for your organization to capitalize on this. Do not subordinate this responsibility to your Marketing or IT folks. It is your’s alone. Own it and Lead the charge.

2.- Advanced Analytics is not a fad (unlike the term “Big Data”). It is a core competency that every Information-driven Enterprise must establish, nurture and make pervasive across all aspects of your business activities. To be successful, you must have a healthy mix of Decision Scientists, Analytics Geeks and Pragmatists who in aggregate are the core of  your “Analytics Center of Excellence”. Under your direction and leadership they must foster a “culture of analytics-based decision making and planning” for your entire enterprise.

3.- All Enterprises need true “Strategic Partners” in order to be successful. There are many who claim to be such, but few who meet the mark in terms of overall capabilities, track record, thought leadership and innovation. I continue to believe that IBM is uniquely positioned as “The Strategic Partner of Choice” in the marketplace, no matter what Vertical segment of Industry, Government or Academia you represent. However, success cannot be achieved by simply choosing  the best strategic partner. You must take full responsibility for the delivery of all strategic outcomes and manage/optimize the relationship to achieve this. I cannot emphasize this requirement enough. You are the master of your own destiny here and cannot be passive or dis-engaged in order to be successful.

Step up to these challenges Business Leaders and you will achieve the Competitive Advantage and other Strategic Outcomes that you need to remain successful/viable in your business endeavors.

 

 

In Big Data, Business Analytics, Governance, Information Governance, Information Management
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Information on Demand_Wednesday 10/24/2012

October 25, 2012 — 1 Comment

Wednesday at  IOD provide another opportunity to drink from firehose of “Thinking Big”. The day was kicked off with two very lively presentations/talks  featuring Jeff Jonas, IBM’s Unstructured Analytics “Guru in Chief”,  followed by Nate Silver (“The Signal and the Noise”), who is a real Data Scientist by anyone’s definition. This was the red meat that the  assembled masses needed to get themselves amped up for Day 3.

 

Day 3

The 3rd day of IOD provided me with a wealth of opportunities to deep dive into some particular areas of interest/focus i.e. Business Glossary, Metadata, Industry Models, Information Governance, Customer Case Studies, etc. I found plenty of opportunities for this and was continuously juggling my schedule throughout the day to sit in on the richest of these discussions. One o

f the most compelling sets of presos were on the newly branded “Business Information Exchange (BIE). BIE is the V9.1 bundling of Business Glossary, Metadata Workbench and several other components in the InfoSphere Information Server stack into a “business friendly” suite for managing the enterprise’s Controlled Vocabulary, Business (and Technical) Metadata. The platform allows for Business Stewards and Information Governance professionals to manage Compliance, Impact Analysis and Lineage across their enterprise landscapes.

The BIE discussions continued into the domain of the Industry Models where I saw the long-term roadmap for the models from several years ago playing itself out in real-time. Th

e Industry Models are now moving into the domain of Information Architecture (IA) where unstructured information is organized using constructs as Controlled Vocabulary, Taxonomy and Metadata Tagging. This has been a critical requirement for some time now given the growth of unstructured and the rise of “Big Data: (yes, you heard me use the term in positive vain.

It is clear to me now that IBM has delivered on promises made several years back regarding “Putting the Business in the Drivers Seat” in respect to both Information Governance and Information Management. The entire Information Management Ecosystem is fully aligned with this ideal (Data Warehouses, Business Analytics, BI, etc.). As a result they are no

w without the exception the end-to-end leader in Business Informatics and Advanced Analytics. The portfolio they have created is not only Best in Class, but fully integrated from the Top Down and Bottom Up. Additionally, they have created the most flexibility along the way to integrate these capabilities into any type of enterprise landscape, not matter how heterogenous.

Captains’ of Industry take note. “IBM has positioned themselves as the Strategic Partner of Choice to support your organizations’ “Analytics Vision” no matter how large or small it might be. You owe it to your organization to engage with them in a conversation about  this journey at a time in the near future. Planning is critical to success so don’t hesitate.

Today is the final day of the IOD Death March and it is a full one as always. I will provide my review of the final day in my Friday (10/26) posting.

 

In Big Data, Business Analytics, Compliance, Governance, Information Governance, Information Management , ,
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Information on Demand_Monday 10/22/2012

October 23, 2012 — 1 Comment

The Theme for this years’s IOD is “Think Big”. Most of us who advise to the business side of organization’s have no problem with this concept. We will see just how this theme pans out over the week.

Day 1

Monday was the opening for the IOD Marathon and it was a long one. It began in the “arena of loud” with the rollout of IBM’ latest Pure Systems appliance, “Pure Data”. This giant of an appliance (7′ tall) arrived on stage under its own power (complete with fog) and reminded me of something out of Dr. Who. This set the stage for many such major announcements over the day including a car giveaway (Honda “Insight”). I was sure that at that point I had transcended somehow to being on the set of the “Price is Right”. Seriously, a car give-away by IBM?

In spite of these distractions the day was a good one for Business Side interests in Information Governance, Advanced Analytics and Business Informatics. IBM rolled out major refreshes to their foundational InfoSphere Information Server 9.1 &  MDM Server 10.1 platforms. Both have shifted into the domain of “business driven” from both a configuration and daily management perspective. Finally, the Business will be able (with their IT Partners) to manage Information as an Asset over it’s entire lifecycle with a focus on Competitive Advantage and Risk Mitigation. I was impressed by IBM’s “Business Driven” roadmap for future expansions and enhancements to both of these platforms and supporting solutions.

In addition, I saw similar themes and approaches taken on the Business Analytics side of the shop with major “Business Driven” enhancements to the Cognos, SPSS & Other platforms, along with the further integration of new acquisitions into the mix.

There were a number of great customer testimonials and “lessons learned” activities as well. Organizations are really starting to break-free from  “speeds and feeds” to focus exclusively on the tangible benefits and payback delivered to the business side of the house. This has been far too long in coming, but is certainly recognized and much appreciated by myself.

Stay tuned “Captains of Industry” as I take on Day 2 of the IOD Marathon and report back on “everything Big”.

In Big Data, Business Analytics, Information Governance, Information Management ,
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