There was a time when databases came in desktop, departmental and enterprise sizes. There was nothing larger than ‘enterprise’ and very few enterprises needed databases that scaled to what was the largest imaginable unit of data, the terabyte. They even named a database after it. We now live in the world of the networked enterprise.… [Read more…]
August 15, 2011
I have spent a fair amount of blogspace this year discussing how good business decisions need more than information. That the evolution of Business Intelligence tools need to extend beyond crosstabs, charts, scorecards and dashboards to collect and share social intelligence. However, this does not mean that decisions should be made without information, it means… [Read more…]
July 9, 2011
Social Gestures If, in the middle of a conversation, I put my index finger to my lips you would instinctively lower your voice. If I held my hand out flat towards your face whilst you were talking you would stop mid-flow. These social gestures are powerful forms of human communication. They are efficient communication short-cuts.… [Read more…]
June 17, 2011
Social So Far This week, I was asked to contribute some comments for an article in Vision, an IBM publication about Social Media. Clearly this was in my capacity as a keen amateur rather than a Social Media professional. My interest in Social is partly driven by the converging fields of Social and Business Intelligence… [Read more…]
May 14, 2011
You’re Fired I know that anyone that watches ‘The Apprentice’ is not doing so for an insight into how a modern business is run but hearing the words ‘You’re Fired’ frequently bellowed through an office door couldn’t be further from my own experience. It represents a clichéd and caricatured view of management that I last… [Read more…]
May 5, 2011
BI, Facebook and Decision Loops I was at an analysts briefing event with IBM last week who were sharing their thinking on Social Business and what I believe is the inspired and innovative pairing of Connections Collaboration and Cognos Business Intelligence. IBM’s Social Business Leader for Northern Europe, Jon Mell shared a slide that compared… [Read more…]
April 28, 2011
Good Decision/Bad Decision This has been something of a preoccupation for me of late. We spend much of our time debating the technologies. We invest valuable time in deciding if we should we go with mega-vendors (IBM, Oracle, SAP) or a challenger? We agonise over should it be cloud or on-premises, mart or warehouse, dimensional… [Read more…]
April 12, 2011
A Funny Thing Happens at the Forum Meetings are one of the most common decision making ‘forums’ we are all regularly involved in. In fact one in five company meetings we take is to make a decision. As a way of making decisions though, they can be problematic. Once the meeting has concluded, the… [Read more…]
March 7, 2011
There are many resources remonstrating with the IT community on the importance of gathering requirements. Failing to gather requirements, they warn, will lead to a poor solution delivered late and over budget. This is largely inarguable. However, I would warn that simply ‘gathering’ requirement is as big a risk. Fred Brooks, author of ‘The Mytical… [Read more…]
February 14, 2011
I have fond memories of the 90s. I spent a fair amount of it being a ‘Cognos Consultant’ travelling the length and breadth of the UK being an expert in all things Cognos. There was a great sense of independence and autonomy. It was possible to pitch up at a new Client with 2 CDs… [Read more…]
August 29, 2011
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