Archive for the ‘information on demand’ Category
Live @ Information On Demand 2012: Big On Business Analytics
Day two of Information On Demand.
Note to self: Bring a hot water boiler next time. Check bathroom for Bengali tiger. Pack a vaporizer. And bring some 5 Hour Energy Drinks.
Oh, and be sure to wear comfortable shoes.
Today, I missed the general session, as I was in my room preparing a presentation and also tuning in to the Apple webcast where CEO Tim Cook announced the new iPad Mini, among other products.
IBM Business Analytics general manager Les Rechan explains to the audience how over 6,000 clients and prospects have now taken the “Analytics Quotient” quiz since it went live last year.
But I did make it down to the Business Analytics keynote, led by IBM Business Analytics general manager Les Rechan, and I was glad I did.
The session started with a motivating video featuring a number of IBM customers on the vanguard of using business analytics to improve their businesses. When Les came onstage, he first highlighted several of IBM’s BA “Champions,” clients from around the globe who were in the “Advanced” category of business analytics.
Les’ birds-eye view centered on the Analytics Quotient, a self-analyzing quiz IBM created and released for customers last year. About 70 percent of the 6,000+ respondents year-to-date indicated they are in the “novice” or “builder” categories, and only 30 percent in the “leader” or “master” categories.
Where IBM can help move the needle is through a variety of resources Les pointed out, including the Analytics Zone, as well as through enablement services and training.
He also highlighted a new book, “5 Keys To Business Analytics Program Success,” a book recently published that features a number of IBM business analytics customer success stories (written by them!).
Over 70 percent of respondents to the IBM “Analytics Quotient” online exam find themselves in the “novice” or “builder” categories, indicating there’s plenty of upside yet in pursuing basic business analytics capabilities across a great diversity of organizations.
Michelle Mylot, the Business Analytics team’s chief marketing officer, then came onstage and pointed out that those organizations that integrated analytics into the fabric of their businesses are the ones that drive the most impact.
She highlighted a number of key areas around which IBM’s business analytics team has been increasingly focused, including social network analyis, entity resolution, decision management, and operational analytics.
Doug Barton, whose interview I’m attaching below at the end of this post, came on stage and gave a brilliant presentation that should provide financial analysts everywhere (including CFOs and all their staffs) incentive to run directly to their nearest reseller and purchase Cognos Disclosure Management.
It’s difficult to describe a demo, but basically, Doug presented a scenario where a company was preparing to announce its earnings and, rather than operating from a plethora of disparate spreadsheets, he demonstrated how Cognos Disclosure Management could create a symphony of collaboration as a CFO prepared for a quarterly earnings call.
Isolated spreadsheets and PowerPoints became integrated narratives of the earnings statement, where an update in one part of the report would magically alter the performance graph in another.
Pure financial geek magic. Doug, take it away in our Q&A below.
Information on Demand 2011: Big Data, Bigger Insights
Greetings from Viva Las Vegas, Nevada.
The CNN Republican debate is long over, the media circus is over, and the information gatherers for IBM Information on Demand 2011 are arriving en masse.
My Webcasting partner-in-crime, Scott Laningham, and I arrived here yesterday mostly without incident. We scoped out the situation, and decided that the Mandalay Bay Race and Sports Book was the perfect venue to sit down, have a burger, and watch the third game of the World Series.
Since baseball and data are going to be an underlying theme in Michael Lewis and Billy Beanes’ keynote about Moneyball later this week, it only seemed appropriate.
And though my Texas Rangers ended up taking a beating, we did witness some new data added to the baseball history books: The Cardinals’ Albert Pujols tied Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for the most home runs struck in one game of a World Series, the magic number three (to be precise, the Babe did it twice).
And though you may never be able to fully predict the specific outcome of a single baseball game, Billy Beane and his Oakland A’s team proved that you can use past player performance statistics to help build a better team, one that could compete with the “big money” teams.
Okay, so if past prediction can help prove future performance, where does that leave we Information On Demanders for this 2011 event?
Let’s start with the business benefit, which in these tough times are necessary for even the most profitable of enterprises.
IBM studies have demonstrated that the performance gap between those leaders and the laggards and followers is widening: Organizations that apply advanced analytics have 33% more revenue growth and 12X more profit growth.
That ought to get some executive attention.
But we’re also seeing some major shifts in the external environment. Information is exploding. We’ve now got over 1 trillion devices connected to the Internet, and we’re expecting 44X digital data growth through 2020.
And yet we’re also finding that business change is outpacing our ability to keep up with it all: 60% of CEOs agree they have more data than they can use effectively, and yet 4 out of 5 business leaders see information as a vital source of competitive advantage.
So what’s the remedy? Well, those flying in to Vegas have taken the first step, admitting they have a problem (No, not “The Hangover” type problems — you’ll have to talk to Mike Tyson about those).
No, successful organizations are turning all that data into actionable insight by taking a more structured approach through business analytics and optimization (BAO).
They’re embracing it as a transformational imperative, and demonstrating that they can improve visibility throughout the enterprise, enhance their understanding of their customers, and fostering collaborative decision-making while providing those key predictive insights and optimizing real-time decision making.
So, like a good baseball player, or manager, your job over the next several days here in Vegas is to do a few key things, and do them well.
Focus, keep your eye on the ball and on the topics most important and relevant to you.
Listen, including both in the general sessions and individual tracks, but also in those all important hallway conversations — you never know what you might learn.
Participate, particularly in the social media. We IBMers and our key partners want to hear from you, and we’re only a Tweet away. Use conference hashtag #iodgc2011 to speak up, as we’re listening in return.
Commit, to the actions coming out of the event that you think will be helpful to you and your organization, and to bring those business and technology goals into becoming a reality.
And one other thing…have fun! Whatever happens in Vegas may not stay in Vegas…it may even end up on Facebook…but that shouldn’t stop you from having a good time and learning a lot this week.
As for Scott Laningham and myself, we’ll be blogging and covering key sessions, and “livestreaming” from the Expo floor. Stop by and say hello.
Navigating The Tech Cosmos @ IBM Software Universe India
I’m well into my third day of a very busy but most enjoyable business trip to Bangalore, my second in as many years.
You’ve read as I’ve written about the crazy traffic, the superb food, the wonderful people, and even an IBM India win vis a vis Escorts Group.
India’s most awaited annual software conclave arrives on October 20th, in Mumbai, in the form of the IBM Software Universe India conference.
Now, it’s time to get down to software business. And what better way than to encourage technology peeps in the sub-continent to consider attending IBM Software Universe India.
The event is scheduled for October 20, 2011, at the Renaissance Convention Centre Hotel in Mumbai. I’m told this is India’s most awaited annual software conference, and a learning ground for IT professionals and developers who want to stay ahead of the technology curve and industry trends.
At the event, attendees can expect to hear about the next big wave in software, and centering around seven unique and diverse tracks: Social Software, Business & Collaboration Solutions, Business Analytics, Application Integration & Optimization, Business Infrastructure, and Security & Risk.
From the optimisation of traffic systems and electric grids, to the delivery of better education, transport and healthcare, to reducing costs with cloud, smarter software is inspiring new thinking and ideas that might be applied to business goals.
Some of the featured speakers and tidings you can expect:
- Keynote from John Dunderdale, VP Growth Markets, IBM, on “Harnessing the Nexg Big Wave”
- A motivating keynote by tennis legend Martina Navratilova
- Sessions by eminent industry leaders and subject matter experts
- A Bollywood Night performance by celebrated singer, Sunidhi Chauhan
- Networking with peers
- Exclusive, on the spot industry certifications
There will also be sneak previews on futuristic technology topics, including Watson, the Spoken Web, Big Data, Social Business, Track & Trace, and others.
For those who might be interested in attending the event, you can find more information and registration information at this website.
You can also find ongoing updates at the IBM Software Universe India blog.
For those of you who are socially inclined, in India and beyond, you can follow the following Twitter ID : @ibmsoftware_in and the conference hashtag: #ibmswuin.
Working Better Together
I arrived here at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya this afternoon, where the IBM Industry Summit is being held.
But this morning, I worked remotely from my hotel room.
Something I’ve done a lot of this year. Working remotely.
Away from home. On airplanes. In coffee shops. In bars. On vacation (but not very often).
Via my BlackBerry. And now my iPhone.
What is work? Where is work?
Work is definitely not someplace I go, although I go a lot of places.
Work is definitely not constrained by a clock or calendar, at least not in the way it was during the Industrial Revolution.
Work is definitely not bounded by an office or even a country.
Of course, this is a far cry from when I started my career in 1991.
Back then, work was mainly an IBM office, with my IBM white shirt, going to an IBM location in Southlake, Texas, working with mainly my IBM colleagues.
We were still international back then — that’s been a part of our name almost from the outset — but I would argue we hadn’t been “globalized.”
Working remotely with colleagues was limited to some amigos in The New York Times Custom Publishing Company, an IBM partnership with whom I worked on several IBM customer publications.
Want to know how we collaborated across great time and distance during that Jurassic Age?
One, via FedEx.
Two, via a mainframe terminal session in VM/PROFS. (For you of the Facebook generation out there, VM was a much more reliable social collaboration tool without the relationship status updates and no graphics.)
Oh yeah, and via Ma Bell.
A lot’s changed since then.
Most of the people I work with now don’t work in an office.
Many of them aren’t located in the U.S.
None of them on my team are in Austin, where I live (or, as I like to joke, where I visit).
How is that possible?
In a word, technology.
In a more specific word, software.
Starting with Lotus Notes back in the mid-1990s, and later our instant messaging product, Lotus Sametime, and most recently, using Lotus Connections, I have transcended time, space, and location. And so have 400,000+ of my IBM colleagues around the world.
Because work is no longer a time or a place or a clock or a date.
Work is a neural network.
Work is a collective human organism, billions of neurons connected together, sharing information and knowledge, wisdom and resources, expertise and insights.
With Lotus software, work is wherever you may be in the world, because it connects you to whatever or whomever in the world you may need.
Work is available increasingly on whatever device or contraption you wish to carry around, including the mobile ones, for the rest of you who are on the go.
Work defies time because it’s always there.
It defies space because, unlike me, it doesn’t need an airplane to arrive.
It brings out the best of IBM and allows us to find and share the best with all our constituents: our partners, our suppliers our customers.
That is something that will increasingly distinguish the best organizations around the world.
I work for one of them.
You can read here how you can use Lotus Software to become one of them, too.
Dateline: My Barcelona Office, Palau de Congresso de Catalunya, Sala A….for now.
turbotodd
Turbotodd 