Data Is Not the New Oil, It's the New Soil
Not long ago companies began waking up to the fact that people everywhere were generating huge volumes of data. Data that could be collected and used to understand people in ever finer detail. The phrase “data is the new oil” started to spread like wildfire across the web. The buzz around “big-data” emerged . Oil is valuable. If you find, collect and store oil it will remain valuable. Data is a very different thing. Data is generated when people do something. It is a record of an event. That means it starts losing value almost as soon as it is generated because it ages.
DOT chief data officer prepares for forthcoming ‘wave’ of digital transportation data
“One of the things that makes it really important we get our acts together around data is the digital transportation world that is about to unfold,” McKinney said in October at ACT-IAC’s Executive Leadership Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. Pointing to information generated from vehicles connected thanks to the Internet of Things and bridges and roads with sensors talking to cars, he said, “All of that data is sort of like standing on the beach and seeing that wave that’s building. It’s way out there, but you can see it. So you can either get ready for that, or you can get swamped.”
The Fantastic Four: Chief Analytics Officer, FICO World Panel
“Analytics as a function grew at Ford Motor Credit because we had a president who joined from American Express who had a vision,” explained Cateriano. “For me the Chief Analytics Officer appointment is about developing a skilled team for credit. Originally we had to push our services but now our key executives turn to our data analytics to solve the problem. I would say 80% of the time they are pulling us to the table”. ... Sigala explained there has been a deep shift towards analytics at Caesars. “It’s deeply integrated. When we deliver financial results it’s the Chief Analytics Officer that delivers the results and that has been a conscious decision.
Nine Steps to Unlock Big Data's Hidden Value
It is being billed as the next big thing and every business appears to be surfing the big wave. But if the hype makes you feel you’ve been left behind, fear not. Gartner poll results released in September 2014 revealed that while 73 percent of firms surveyed in 2014 are interested in adopting big data, only 13 percent have actually deployed these technologies. Without a clear place to start, many organizations are either misusing big data or not using it to its full potential. However, a focused approach can help make the transition less daunting, minimize the hurdles along the way, and enable organizations to take advantage of this valuable and growing corporate asset.
Only Engaged Innovation Teams Succeed
Managing innovation is making choices and dealing with constant trade-offs about different issues, particularly the ones related to people. The ultimate goal should be to make innovation a collective responsibility of the entire organization. However organizations cannot afford to have a single policy for keeping continuous motivation and engagement among all people. They should draft a plan to encourage that at least key people actively contribute for the innovation program and become long-term supporters. Key people are the stakeholders that have the interest and the power to influence the success of the innovation program.
Dynamic Duo of Analytic Power: Business Intelligence Analyst PLUS Data Scientist
The data science process is highly collaborative; the more subject matter experts involved in the process, the better the resulting model. And maybe even more importantly, involvement of the business users throughout the process ensures that the data scientists focuses on uncovering analytic insights that pass the S.A.M. test –Strategic (to the business), Actionable (insights that the organization can actually act on), and Material (where the value of acting on the insights is greater than the cost of acting on the insights).
Facebook’s Open Source Virtual Machine HHVM Stabilized
HHVM itself isn’t widely deployed or even widely known. It is extremely fast, but has not been considered production-ready because it sometimes causes system reboots. For the first time PHP and HHVM can run side by side on the same server, which increases speed, performance, and stability in production environments. WP Engine’s latest release, called Mercury, leverages the new capability. “HHVM is extremely fast running WordPress,” said Tomas Puig, head of labs at WP Engine. “Getting it ready and stable is truly an accomplishment.”
2015 prediction: Expect massive spikes in global information security threats
PWC rightly points out that cyber security has become a persistent business risk and that threats (both to the economy and intellectual property) are on the rise. The report goes on to identify some very troubling incidents, including ... With the idea of a security paradigm shift on the table, today's cyber-defenders should be thinking in different terms than just traditional security initiatives, shifting their focus towards an ideology of "cyber risk management", which is being fueled by an initiative founded by the NIST. The NIST has set forth a security framework (NIST Cybersecurity Framework) that stresses management over technology and highlights several best practices that should help organizations defend against the imminent threats posed by increasing cyber-attacks.
Cloud Comfort for Financial Services
"You're giving your data to some third party," Alexander Southwell, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and former cybercrimes prosecutor, told attendees during a panel presentation. "Do you know where in fact the data is? Do you know who is housing that data? How well [are] they funded? Are they gonna be around?" Indeed, many financial services organizations are specifically required to assess factors such as these when contracting with third parties, as a matter of due diligence. These questions and others concerning how client data is stored are especially important because most cloud providers are not yet SEC- or FINRA-compliant.
The Open Group IT4IT™ Reference Architecture, Version 1.3
The IT Value Chain and IT4IT Reference Architecture represent the IT service lifecycle in a new and powerful way, providing the missing link between industry standard best practice guides and the technology you need to select and execute those processes. The IT Value Chain and IT4IT Reference Architecture are a new foundation on which to base your IT4IT operating model and provide a welcome blueprint for the CIO to accelerate IT’s transition to becoming a service broker to the business. This Snapshot is intended to make public the direction and thinking about the path we are taking in the development of the IT4IT Reference Architecture.
Quote for the day:
"Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it." -- Warren G. Bennis
Not long ago companies began waking up to the fact that people everywhere were generating huge volumes of data. Data that could be collected and used to understand people in ever finer detail. The phrase “data is the new oil” started to spread like wildfire across the web. The buzz around “big-data” emerged . Oil is valuable. If you find, collect and store oil it will remain valuable. Data is a very different thing. Data is generated when people do something. It is a record of an event. That means it starts losing value almost as soon as it is generated because it ages.
DOT chief data officer prepares for forthcoming ‘wave’ of digital transportation data
“One of the things that makes it really important we get our acts together around data is the digital transportation world that is about to unfold,” McKinney said in October at ACT-IAC’s Executive Leadership Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. Pointing to information generated from vehicles connected thanks to the Internet of Things and bridges and roads with sensors talking to cars, he said, “All of that data is sort of like standing on the beach and seeing that wave that’s building. It’s way out there, but you can see it. So you can either get ready for that, or you can get swamped.”
The Fantastic Four: Chief Analytics Officer, FICO World Panel
“Analytics as a function grew at Ford Motor Credit because we had a president who joined from American Express who had a vision,” explained Cateriano. “For me the Chief Analytics Officer appointment is about developing a skilled team for credit. Originally we had to push our services but now our key executives turn to our data analytics to solve the problem. I would say 80% of the time they are pulling us to the table”. ... Sigala explained there has been a deep shift towards analytics at Caesars. “It’s deeply integrated. When we deliver financial results it’s the Chief Analytics Officer that delivers the results and that has been a conscious decision.
Nine Steps to Unlock Big Data's Hidden Value
It is being billed as the next big thing and every business appears to be surfing the big wave. But if the hype makes you feel you’ve been left behind, fear not. Gartner poll results released in September 2014 revealed that while 73 percent of firms surveyed in 2014 are interested in adopting big data, only 13 percent have actually deployed these technologies. Without a clear place to start, many organizations are either misusing big data or not using it to its full potential. However, a focused approach can help make the transition less daunting, minimize the hurdles along the way, and enable organizations to take advantage of this valuable and growing corporate asset.
Only Engaged Innovation Teams Succeed
Managing innovation is making choices and dealing with constant trade-offs about different issues, particularly the ones related to people. The ultimate goal should be to make innovation a collective responsibility of the entire organization. However organizations cannot afford to have a single policy for keeping continuous motivation and engagement among all people. They should draft a plan to encourage that at least key people actively contribute for the innovation program and become long-term supporters. Key people are the stakeholders that have the interest and the power to influence the success of the innovation program.
Dynamic Duo of Analytic Power: Business Intelligence Analyst PLUS Data Scientist
The data science process is highly collaborative; the more subject matter experts involved in the process, the better the resulting model. And maybe even more importantly, involvement of the business users throughout the process ensures that the data scientists focuses on uncovering analytic insights that pass the S.A.M. test –Strategic (to the business), Actionable (insights that the organization can actually act on), and Material (where the value of acting on the insights is greater than the cost of acting on the insights).
Facebook’s Open Source Virtual Machine HHVM Stabilized
HHVM itself isn’t widely deployed or even widely known. It is extremely fast, but has not been considered production-ready because it sometimes causes system reboots. For the first time PHP and HHVM can run side by side on the same server, which increases speed, performance, and stability in production environments. WP Engine’s latest release, called Mercury, leverages the new capability. “HHVM is extremely fast running WordPress,” said Tomas Puig, head of labs at WP Engine. “Getting it ready and stable is truly an accomplishment.”
2015 prediction: Expect massive spikes in global information security threats
PWC rightly points out that cyber security has become a persistent business risk and that threats (both to the economy and intellectual property) are on the rise. The report goes on to identify some very troubling incidents, including ... With the idea of a security paradigm shift on the table, today's cyber-defenders should be thinking in different terms than just traditional security initiatives, shifting their focus towards an ideology of "cyber risk management", which is being fueled by an initiative founded by the NIST. The NIST has set forth a security framework (NIST Cybersecurity Framework) that stresses management over technology and highlights several best practices that should help organizations defend against the imminent threats posed by increasing cyber-attacks.
Cloud Comfort for Financial Services
"You're giving your data to some third party," Alexander Southwell, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and former cybercrimes prosecutor, told attendees during a panel presentation. "Do you know where in fact the data is? Do you know who is housing that data? How well [are] they funded? Are they gonna be around?" Indeed, many financial services organizations are specifically required to assess factors such as these when contracting with third parties, as a matter of due diligence. These questions and others concerning how client data is stored are especially important because most cloud providers are not yet SEC- or FINRA-compliant.
The Open Group IT4IT™ Reference Architecture, Version 1.3
The IT Value Chain and IT4IT Reference Architecture represent the IT service lifecycle in a new and powerful way, providing the missing link between industry standard best practice guides and the technology you need to select and execute those processes. The IT Value Chain and IT4IT Reference Architecture are a new foundation on which to base your IT4IT operating model and provide a welcome blueprint for the CIO to accelerate IT’s transition to becoming a service broker to the business. This Snapshot is intended to make public the direction and thinking about the path we are taking in the development of the IT4IT Reference Architecture.
Quote for the day:
"Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it." -- Warren G. Bennis
