Introducing Willie the Seeing Eye Dog

Willie the Seeing Eye Dog
Willie the Seeing Eye Dog|May 18, 2012

I’m Willie the Seeing Eye Dog. I help Software Development Manager Ed Summers get around SAS Corporate Headquarters without breaking his neck. The editors at SAS provided these questions for me to answer so you can learn more about what I do.

What would SAS customers be surprised to learn about the job you perform?
I go everywhere Ed goes. That includes planes, trains, taxis, restaurants, Disney World, camping, hiking and sailing. We’re a team and we stick together!

Willie waits patiently as Ed demonstrates accessible SAS software on an iPad at SAS Global Forum 2012.

What’s the most interesting part of your job?
I love conferences! Ed goes to conferences for blind guys. That means there are lots of other Seeing Eye Dogs.  When the blind guys aren’t paying attention we get to sniff one another and swap war stories. It’s a real blast!

What aspect of your job do you like best?
I love lunch. Sometimes, I find little pieces of food on the floor in the cafeteria and I can grab them quickly before the blind guy catches me. If you see me do it, please don’t blow my cover.

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Three visual narratives about SAS analytics

Steve Polilli
Steve Polilli|May 18, 2012

I agreed to shoot at SAS Global Forum in Orlando some brief, YouTube-style videos of a few poster contest entrants.  I’ve been to the last four of these annual events, so I’m well aware of the extreme enthusiasm of the global community but the graciousness and excitement of these folks still blows me away. The three customers I met who created posters—Jenine Milum, Don Kros and Jon Boase—were amazing.

They all had invested large amounts of personal time creating these visual displays of some SAS process or insight. One even spent the price of a very nice dinner for two, with wine, on poster printing. Why? Simply to share their knowledge with peers at the event. That’s so SAS Global Forum.

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Best Practice #6: Interface design is important for reporting

Georgia Mariani
Georgia Mariani|May 17, 2012

As we begin the second half of our series on the 10 best practices for information management, reporting and analytics let’s review what we have learned so far.

We now understand the importance of securing executive sponsorship, identifying and involving stakeholders early and assessing their unique needs, identifying and integrating data sources, managing user expectations proactively, and determining the best way to process and deliver each report.

So now you have to determine the best way to get data and reports to your end users. Plus, you need to ensure that they have the information readily available, when they need it and in the format that they need it - securely. This brings us to Best Practice #6: Design an Intuitive, User-Friendly Interface for Accessing Reports.

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Have you seen these villains of analytics?

Dr. Insight
Dr. Insight|May 16, 2012

At SAS Global Forum, we added our first Analytic Hero to the League - Rick Andrews of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Rick has fought epic analytical battles in the healthcare industry resulting in better lives for millions of consumers, and thus he has joined me in Datapolis as Illumino to fight the villain Frackture.

In our time at SAS Global Forum we met many Analytic Heroes in Training - innovators in high-performance and in-database analytics at organizations with their own epic struggles against big data overload. In our conversations we have discovered that Analytic Villains like Obscuro and Frackture are organizing a counter attack against SAS and Teradata customers on Earth. So, we are looking for YOU to be our eyes and ears in the real world as we continue to fight our battles in Datapolis.

If you have battled or know anyone who has battled one of the villains of analytics identified in my post earlier this week, or if you know of new villains plaguing your organization - send a tweet to Dr. Insight using the hashtag #AnalyticHeroes. Ilumino and I will return for a Analytic Heroes Twitter Chat in June to discuss a strategy for battling these villains. We hope you can join us there.

REMEMBER, THERE IS A REWARD OFFERED FOR THE CAPTURE OF THESE VILLAINS.

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Big data improves speed, accuracy and automation for credit lenders

Waynette Tubbs
Waynette Tubbs|May 15, 2012

Rex Pruitt, Premier Bankcard

Credit lending is a fast-paced business that relies on large amounts of customer and transaction data. Premier Bankcard’s primary purpose has been to provide even customers with damaged credit histories an avenue to obtain credit and demonstrate positive financial patterns.

To stay competitive, the company uses analytics to predict and model customer data, as well as to detect fraud. Here, Rex Pruitt, Premier Bankcard’s Manager of MIS Profitability and Risk Requirements, discusses how high-performance analytics can help meet the challenges of today’s financial industry.

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Infographic: How can you become a big data hero?

Dr. Insight
Dr. Insight|May 14, 2012

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Big data answers for your industry and your role

Alison Bolen
Alison Bolen|May 9, 2012

Are you still struggling to understand what "big data" means to you or your industry? Or maybe you get it, but you want your boss to understand the opportunities, and you're not sure how to explain it clearly.

Look no further. I've categorized some of our most popular recent big data posts below into specific industries and interests. Pick what's relevant to you and share the rest with your friends and co-workers who might benefit from the advice for their roles.

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Global Economist Panel: Living in interesting times

Peter Dorrington
Peter Dorrington|May 8, 2012

The state of the global economy has been well-documented over the past few years: One could argue that it’s a more volatile and variable world we live in now, both financially and politically.

There have been some bright lights amongst the gloom though, and they have tended to radiate from the so called BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). However, the global financial crisis which has centered on Western economies is starting to dim those bright lights a bit.

To give us a clear view of what is happening, and likely to happen to the world’s economy, SAS recently hosted a panel featuring Gerard Lyons, PhD, Chief Economist and Group Head of Global Research at Standard Chartered and Economist, best-selling author, Dambisa  Moyo and moderator, René Carayol. Read More »

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An analytics Golden Age

Mike Nemecek
Mike Nemecek|May 8, 2012

During the Dutch Golden Age (spanning the 17th century), artists like Vermeer, Jan Steen and Rembrandt produced amazing scenes of everyday life, realistic portraits, and moody landscapes infused with shadows and light. Through their skilled use of paint and brush, these “Dutch Masters” provided new ways of looking at the world around us.

Today, as the amount of data grows exponentially, we are entering another Golden Age, this one of Analytics. Powerful technologies like SAS High-Performance Analytics are helping organizations in banking, insurance, retail, energy, government and other sectors. With analytics applied to “Big Data,” these organizations are discovering new insights, better understanding their customers, improving operations, and making more accurate and timely business decisions. Read More »

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Best practice #5: Optimize reporting processes

Georgia Mariani
Georgia Mariani|May 4, 2012

We are half way through my blog series counting to 10 best practices for information management, reporting and analytics. To recap, we have learned the importance of:

  1. Securing executive sponsorship.
  2. Identifying and involving stakeholders early and assessing their unique needs.
  3. Identifying and integrating data sources.
  4. Managing user expectations proactively.

This brings us to Best Practice #5: Determine the Best Way to Process and Deliver Each Report. It’s all too easy to start manually building reports and just dumping them out somewhere for consumption. For some people, the tendency is to create comprehensive, kitchen-sink solutions that are overwhelming to read and use. For others, the tendency is to subdivide everything into hundreds of reports and directories, many of which aren’t designed to serve a specific stakeholder purpose.

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