Analytics & Automation

Since helping launch the data virtualization market in 2006, I have interacted with thousands of organizations. A common question across these conversations is “How do we know if we are ready for data virtualization?” What these organizations are really asking is: “When do we know if our existing da…

Like many organizations, Compassion International, has dozens of data sources and thousands of data consumers eager to get answers to their business questions. The difference with Compassion International is that good data directly impacts how well we serve children in poverty around the world. Comp…

As businesses embrace data-driven decision making, it’s no longer enough to simply collect the data.  In fact, there is so much data, that instead of enabling decision making, it can sometimes do the opposite. In a recent article, CEOs Must Up Level Their Digital-Decisions Skills, Thorton May highli…

The fourth song on the iconic album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, is Getting Better with Sir Paul McCartney the lead on the memorable refrain: “I’ve got to admit it’s getting better A little better all the time I have to admit it’s getting better It’s getting…

According to IDC, by 2020, organizations able to analyze all relevant data and deliver actionable information will achieve an extra $430 billion in productivity benefits over their less analytically oriented peers. You’ll notice, IDC’s statement doesn’t say some data. Or a few pieces of data. It say…

Data Storytellers: Each month we’ll be highlighting experts and advocates to share their data stories, knowledge, and insights into the future of data and analytics. Subscribe to the RSS feed to get the latest updates. The emergence of smart cities holds great promise for the economy and the c…

With all that has been written and said about data preparation, you are probably convinced your enterprise is ready to take advantage of its ability to rapidly transform inconsistent, incomplete, and inaccurate data into the clean, complete and ready-to-use data that your analytics require. This cle…

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you’d know that I frequently share my thoughts and insights about multisourcing and service integration. Often I discuss Cisco ServiceGrid, our flagship integration platform in the cloud that enables multiparty service collaboration. ServiceGrid is a…

Technology changes like the weather – often. Today’s IT environment is ever evolving and vastly different than it was just five years ago. Data and analytics dominate the conversation and everybody is still trying to figure out how best to leverage their data with approaches to better serve the busi…