Live @ Information On Demand 2012: Think Big…Really Big

Though David Copperfield may be keeping an eye out over the Las Vegas Strip, this year’s mantra to “Think Big” at IBM Information On Demand 2012 is no illusion. There are big issues to tackle, we’ve got more data than ever, being acquired at a pace unmatched in recorded history, and amidst all that information are insights that we all can use to better run our businesses — if we could just find them. Our time in Vegas this week should prove to be a great start.

Greetings from Viva Las Vegas, Nevada.

It’s Sunday, and if it’s Sunday, it’s football…and, Information on Demand 2012.

It seems like I was only here a short year ago…and come to think of it, I was!

How time, and technology, flies…but, as the industry goes, so goes IOD.  This year, there are more issues to discuss, more folks to talk to, and more technologies to cover, even as all we IOD attendees are being asked to “Think Big.”

Which is a good thing, because there are some big issues on the information management table that need discussing.

We’ve got more data than ever, being acquired at a pace unmatched in recorded history, and amidst all that information are insights that we all can use to better run our businesses, our governments, even our lives, yet not necessarily with any clear boundaries about who can do what with who’s information and when and under what circumstances!

But boy, if only we could make sense out of it all.

It reminds me of the magic show I went to see yesterday afternoon at the MGM Grand here in Vegas, starring none other than the world-renowned illusionist, David Copperfield.

If you’ve never seen him perform, first of all, I highly recommend you taking in his show at the Hollywood Theatre there.

Copperfield is the genuine article, an illusionist whose humanity surpasses his skills as a magician.  An entertainner who made a Studebaker appear onstage from out of nowhere, the story behind which that explained the import of that car to Copperfield and his family nearly bringing tears to my eyes.

One minute I was laughing, one minute I was surprised and astonished, and the next minute I was crying…in my book, the mark of a superior entertainer who understands his audience.

And such is often the case in the realm of effective information management.  One minute, we have our handle on the situation, making sense of the information at our disposal…and the next, a new requirement, a new technology, a new methodology comes along and throws a wrench in our proverbial analytical fan.

But like Copperfield, we must always be thinking of our audience.  Who are they, what motivates them, what do they need from us, what do they NOT need.  Often it’s not what you say but what you don’t that most makes the point.

Which is why we’re here in Vegas, to Think Big. To put our big boy and girl thinking caps on to figure out how we can handle this additional onslaught of information effectively and efficiently, with grace under pressure.

As part and parcel of that, we’re here to attend the over 700 technical education sessions, the 110 hands on labs, and to hear the 300+ customer speakers who have been there, done that in Information On Demand 2012.

And finally, to also hopefully have a little fun along the way.  It is Vegas, after all.  And all that nonsense about what happens here, stays here??  You don’t really believe any of that bit, do you?

It IS 2012, after all.  What’s not picked up by a smartphone will be Tweeted by your colleagues and read by your boss back at the home office.  So behave yourself!

Because all of that, and much, much more is what constitutes the Information On Demand experience, and that’s what myself and our extended IOD 2012 social team will be here to cover for you.

So, check your IOD Smartsite or program guide in your badge, and get going, and please keep an eye on Twitter, hashtag #ibmiod, for all the latest.

Big Study On Big Data

Perfect timing.

In advance of IBM’s massive event next week in Las Vegas featuring all things information management, Information On Demand 2012, IBM and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford today released a study on Big Data.

According to a new global report from IBM and the Said Business School at the University of Oxford, less than half of the organizations engaged in active Big Data initiatives are currently analyzing external sources of data, like social media.

The headline: Most Big Data initiatives currently being deployed by organizations are aimed at improving the customer experience, yet less than half of the organizations involved in active Big Data initiatives are currently collecting and analyzing external sources of data, like social media.

One reason: Many organizations are struggling to address and manage the uncertainty inherent within certain types of data, such as the weather, the economy, or the sentiment and truthfulness of people expressed on social networks.

Another? Social media and other external data sources are being underutilized due to the skills gap. Having the advanced capabilities required to analyze unstructured data — data that does not fit in traditional databases such as text, sensor data, geospatial data, audio, images and video — as well as streaming data remains a major challenge for most organizations.

The new report, entitled “Analytics: The real-world use of Big Data,” is based on a global survey of 1,144 business and IT professionals from 95 countries and 26 industries. The report provides a global snapshot of how organizations today view Big Data, how they are building essential capabilities to tackle Big Data and to what extent they are currently engaged in using Big Data to benefit their business.

Only 25 percent of the survey respondents say they have the required capabilities to analyze highly unstructured data — a major inhibitor to getting the most value from Big Data.

The increasing business opportunities and benefits of Big Data are clear. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the survey respondents report that using information, including Big Data, and analytics is creating a competitive advantage for their organizations. This is a 70 percent increase from the 37 percent who cited a competitive advantage in a 2010 IBM study.

Big Data Drivers and Adoption

In addition to customer-centric outcomes, which half (49 percent) of the respondents identified as a top priority, early applications of Big Data are addressing other functional objectives.

Nearly one-fifth (18 percent) cited optimizing operations as a primary objective. Other Big Data applications are focused on risk and financial management (15 percent), enabling new business models (14 percent) and employee collaboration (4 percent).

Three-quarters (76 percent) of the respondents are currently engaged in Big Data development efforts, but the report confirms that the majority (47 percent) are still in the early planning stages.

However, 28 percent are developing pilot projects or have already implemented two or more Big Data solutions at scale. Nearly one quarter (24 percent) of the respondents have not initiated Big Data activities, and are still studying how Big Data will benefit their organizations.

Sources of Big Data

More than half of the survey respondents reported internal data as the primary source of Big Data within their organizations. This suggests that companies are taking a pragmatic approach to Big Data, and also that there is tremendous untapped value still locked away in these internal systems.

Internal data is the most mature, well-understood data available to organizations. The data has been collected, integrated, structured and standardized through years of enterprise resource planning, master data management, business intelligence and other related work.

By applying analytics, internal data extracted from customer transactions, interactions, events and emails can provide valuable insights.

Big Data Capabilities

Today, the majority of organizations engaged in Big Data activities start with analyzing structured data using core analytics capabilities, such as query and reporting (91 percent) and data mining (77 percent).

Two-thirds (67 percent) report using predictive modeling skills.

But Big Data also requires the capability to analyze semi-structured and unstructured data, including a variety of data types that may be entirely new for many organizations.

In more than half of the active Big Data efforts, respondents reported using advanced capabilities designed to analyze text in its natural state, such as the transcripts of call center conversations.

These analytics include the ability to interpret and understand the nuances of language, such as sentiment, slang and intentions. Such data can help companies, like a bank or telco provider, understand the current mood of a customer and gain valuable insights that can be immediately used to drive customer management strategies.

You can download and read the full study here.

Update: Also check out the new IBM Big Data Hub, a compendium of videos, blog posts, podcasts, white papers, and other useful assets centering on this big topic!

IBM Acquires Guardium

In the most unclosed guarded super top secret acquisition of 2009, IBM has officially announced it has acquired Guardium, a market leader in real-time enterprise database monitoring and protection.

(I kid, because I started hearing about this acquisition in the blogosphere before Thanksgiving).

Guardium’s technology helps clients safeguard data, monitor database activity, and reduce operational costs by automating regulatory compliance tasks.

Guardium is a privately held company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

You can read more details about the deal here.

This acquisition builds on IBM’s business analytics strategy, including the range of offerings available through IBM’s recently-announced Business Analytics and Optimization Consulting organization, which includes 4,000 consultants, a network of analytics solutions centers, and an overall investment of more than $12B U.S. in organic growth and acquisitions.

IBM will integrate Guardium within IBM’s Information Management Software portfolio , which has more than 35,000 experts dedicated to helping clients use information as a strategic asset to transform their business.

This marks the 28th acquisition to support IBM’s Information Management strategy.

Finishing IOD in the Clouds

Good morning, Las Vegas, and good morning to the hardcore IODers who are still here filling their heads with lots of good information.

As for me, I’ll be filling my own head this morning in the exciting “Cloud Computing Un-Conference,” being led by Cloud Camp leader Dave Nielsen (Banyan A/B, 8:30-Noon).

If you can’t make it back to this or other IOD conference sessions today, be sure to continue the dialogue after the event by joining one of IBM’s online communities in the Information Management space.

Also, please keep a lookout in the next few weeks for the IOD Virtual Conference where, from the comfort of your own office (or the beach), you’ll soon be able to view recorded sessions from this year’s event — including keynotes, general sessions, and both business and technical track sessions.

You’ll also be able to visit our virtual Expo Center, in case there were folks you didn’t have time to get by and see during your time on the ground here in Vegas.  In the meantime, you can hear from some of the conference presenters that Scott Laningham and I interviewed here on the YouTube.

If you weren’t aware of the new online Information Agenda Catalog, which was launched at IOD, this new online solution will give you a single view of available Information Management solutions, including those from IBM Business Partners, IBM Global Business Services, and and the IBM Software Group.

Finally, for those of you in Europe, don’t forget that Information on Demand will be coming to Rome on May 19-21, 2010.

Well, Dave has just kicked off the Cloud Computing Unconference, so I’ve got to get to some unconferencing!

The IM Software Future’s So Bright

It was one of those rare sports weekends: All my teams won!

The Longhorns beat Mizzou, the Cowboys beat Atlanta, and the Yankees took the ALCS.

I should come to Vegas more often…I get good odds here.

Of course, wagering on the past is just Monday quarterbacking, and here at the Information on Demand Conference, it’s the future most folks are concerned about.

IBM information management (IM) market insight analyst Stacy Novack held a session yesterday to give us the lay of the land, and the future seems to be so bright for IM software that you gotta wear a two-phase commit.

First, in broad strokes, Stacy indicated that the IM market is expected to be $237B next year, with software being about $63B of that (the other slices are services and hardware).

Though the clouds are starting to lift on IT budgets everywhere, their recovery will be tied to continued GDP improvement, but Novack expects relative resilience in software spending as companies prepare for the uptick.

The recovery is expected to vary widely by region (ranging from -2.0 to +2.0) in 2010, and the information management software opportunity is expected to grow twice that in “growth” countries versus the G7.

Some CAGR expectations: 5.9% from 2009-2013 for the overall IM software market, with analytics applications leading the pack at an expected 7.8% (some $9B in 2010).

Business intelligence isn’t far behind at 6.0% (~$12B next year).

And there are big picture trends and forces shaping the climate: Global recession has led to cost cutting, govt stimulus, the “hyperconnected” enterprise, corporate social responsibility, and, ultimately, the drive for more security and transparency.

On the tech front, factors include continued proliferation of data, content, and information — Did you know the digital universe, by 2011, is expected to be 10 times the size it was in 2006??

And that’s not even yet counting last night’s killer live concert by U2 on YouTube!

Seventy percent of that digital universe is created by individuals (you know, like Larry from down the hall who likes to take pictures of the stuff growing on the office coffee pot and post them on Facebook), yet enterprises are responsible for the security, privacy, and compliance of 85% of that content.

Shhh, nobody tell the lawyers!

Many companies are increasingly seeking information-led innovation that treats information as an asset, not a liability, but there are challenges: need to improve the levels of integration, analytics capabilities, the breadth of access, the currency of information…there are still substantial gaps.

But the opportunities are prevalent and often immediate: Information management software capabilities are well positioned to address immediate and emerging business challenges.

Though cost reduction initiatives brought about by the downturn continue to be a priority, many organizations realize effective analytics capabilities can help drive short-term results, even as those organizations prepare for longer term IT investments.

To take advantage of those, IT leaders need to translate those solutions so they meet the needs of business decision makers, and work to link those shorter-term investments to longer-term infrastructure visions.

IBM’s Global CIO study found that CIOs spend 55% of their time on activities that spur innovation and help the business, including leveraging analytics to gain competitive advantage.

There are good odds that your time spent here in Vegas at IOD will help you along the way.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find some breakfast…along with 6,000 of my new closest friends!