Why You Need An In-Memory Action Plan
This is a third post of a series based on a SAP-sponsored breakfast meeting organized in Sydney earlier this year with speaker Donald Feinberg, Gartner VP and Distinguished Analyst explaining the “Nexus of Forces”: social, mobile, cloud and information. In the first two posts, Donald covered why in-memory is disrupting everything, and why every organization will be running in-memory in 15 to 20 years time, and the business impacts of the new in-memory... [Read More...]
The Business Impact of In-Memory Computing, From Run to Transform
This is the second post based on a SAP-sponsored breakfast meeting organized in Sydney earlier this year, as part of a ANZ/APJ innovation analytics tour, with speaker Donald Feinberg, Gartner VP and Distinguished Analyst explaining the “Nexus of Forces”: social, mobile, cloud and information. After covering why in-memory is disrupting everything, and why every organization will be running in-memory in 15 to 20 years time, In this post, Donald... [Read More...]
Data Visualization? Bling It On!
This timely post looks at how big data is leading to a big surge in flashy data visualization, as the staid world of business bar charts finally embraces its inner “bling.” Visualization Best Practice: Apple Shows The Way “Some people say skeuomorphic design elements like 3D shadows, imaginary glass highlights, and superfluous animation have no place in modern data visualizations” says Sue Donihm, a business intelligence dashboard... [Read More...]
Brain Scans Show No Difference in Pie Chart and Bar Chart Perception?
Which is better for communicating information: pie charts or bar charts? “Pie charts communicate information poorly… Our visual perception is not designed to accurately assign quantitative values to 2-D areas” says visualization expert Stephen Few in his book “Show Me The Numbers.” The book backs up the claim with a compelling example that I’ve attempted to recreate below — which of these two charts do you find it easier to interpret? But... [Read More...]
Rethinking the Basics of Financial Reporting
The chart of accounts is one of the fundamental building blocks of finance – but it’s time to rethink it from scratch. To organize corporate finances and track financial health, traditional financial systems typically use complex, rigid general ledger structures. The result is painful, unwieldy systems that are not agile enough to support the requirements of modern finance. In the financial engines of the future, rigid “code block” architectures... [Read More...]
SAP Announces New EPM OnDemand at the SAP BusinessObjects User Conference
It’s time for one of my favorite conferences of the year, the SAP BusinessObjects User Conference in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been attending BusinessObjects user conferences ever since they have existed, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for me to catch up with old friends and meet new customers that are using analytics to make a difference in the business. The day kicked off with Bridgette Chambers, CEO of Americas’ SAP User Group... [Read More...]
Test, Learn, Adapt: Using Analytics to Improve Public Policy
Ben Goldacre of Bad Science fame has co-written a UK Cabinet Office paper on how to improve government policy through better analysis, in the form of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A qualified doctor and professional debunker of bad medical analysis, Goldacre notes that RCTs are so widely used in areas such as medicine and web advertising that “failing to do them would be regarded as bizarre, or even reckless.” However, using RCTs to test... [Read More...]
Fashion + Analytics + Social = The Perfect Ensemble
I’ll be presenting at Decoded Fashion next week at the Lincoln Center in New York: “The first Fashion and Technology Forum Series connecting the world’s best startups and most noteworthy technologies to the Fashion, Beauty and Retail industries to accelerate innovation and increase the bottom line.” It promises to be fascinating, with a wide range of sessions on different aspects of using technology in the fashion business, including... [Read More...]
Concrete Examples of How Health Intelligence Saves Lives
An excellent article in Health Data Management by Greg Gillespie gives some wonderful examples of the power of analytics to improve health outcomes, looking at data from some of the 2,000+ clinical trials that Cleveland Clinic is currently running. I strongly encourage you to read the original article (also available in pdf format), but here are summaries of the three use cases highlighted: hand-washing analytics, central-line analytics, and blood-transfusion... [Read More...]
SAP Innovation Tour in the Baltics
I’m in the Baltics this week (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia), presenting a business innovation keynote and a big data track session as part of the SAP Innovation Forum. Yesterday’s sessions in Tallinn were fascinating, including: Industry thought leader Peep Aavikso, on why smart companies need smart people Janeck Gustavson of Eesti Energy talking about their use of SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) A very passionate talk from Olga... [Read More...]
I was the eighth employee of 
