Two thoughts from here in London to follow on the two recent posts by my colleagues Alyssa and Peter. I’ll try to complement their thorough, thoughtful comments with a few brief, random ones from my work room that overlooks the amazing pitch of Wembley Stadium.

First, related to Tapscott and collaboration: I just now finished up a discussion with a customer who works for TMN, a Portuguese mobile provider. He did a presentation earlier about “Shared Business Intelligence as a Competitive Advantage," in which he applied the new models of Web 2.0 — user-generated content and active participation – to the company’s use of analytics. In fact, I think he coined a new term: Participatory analytics. It’s not a new message for BI. We’ve been talking for some time about the democratization of data, but I hadn’t heard it positioned in this context before: giving access to data and analysis to more than 100 internal clients so they can produce their own analyses. As the business users’ knowledge levels increase, they can have more meaningful conversations about the shape and direction of their analytical efforts.

Before that conversation I also had the pleasure of sitting down with Andrew Winston for a few minutes, author of Green to Gold and one of today’s presenters on sustainability. I asked him how companies looking to integrate green practices can get started. Here are a few of his answers:

• Start with a good old SWOT analysis (he calls it AUDIO: Aspects, Upstream, Downstream, Issues, and Opportunities)
• Analyze your stakeholders’ wants and needs (internally and externally)
• Start the culture change by getting people involved in something like a green team.
• Little things mean a lot: UPS saved 28 million miles & 3 million gallons of gas by reducing left turns and the idling they cause.

This is along the lines of the energy savings promised with the switch from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs. (Did you know that the US is mandating the elimination of incandescent bulbs in seven years?)

Oh, and one thing Alyssa didn’t mention: during the press conference where we launched our sustainability solution, Alyssa was interrupted mid-sentence as she responded to a question from a journalist. A deep, booming British voice echoed out over the stadium intercom: PAGING MR. GREEN, PAGING MR. GREEN. It's apparently a code-phrase for potential upcoming evacuation of the stadium (which didn’t happen), but those of us attending the briefing got a chuckle out of what felt like a ringing endorsement from the heavens.