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An alarming percentage of major software implementations fail to be delivered on time, on budget, or even at all. Implementations of new forecasting software, or of new forecasting processes, are not immune from this legacy of failure. Why does this happen, and is there anything we can do about it?
It’s no secret that SAS enjoys a high degree of customer loyalty and it’s also well known that part of what drives that loyalty is driven by how much we pay attention to our customers. This devotion to our customers is helping to ensure that we deliver on our promise
I received this offer in the post the other day: "University apparel just for you, featuring the name HEMEDINGER!" Yes, the offer has it correct. This would be just for me, because I can't think of anyone else who might order it. I regret that I didn't receive the offer
I recently met with five people who have been in state and local government for a combined total of over 100 years. It was a group that covered multiple areas of government including Health and Human Services, Courts and Corrections, Finance and Emergency Management. Everyone came to the table with
Improving campaign close rates is just one of many benefits quoted by Verizon in this quarter’s sascom magazine. But a 250 percent improvement is pretty significant. • How did they do it? • What were the other benefits? • How will they continue to deliver improvement over time? The short
There is a long running debate among forecasting professionals, on whether to use Forecast or Actual in the denominator of your percentage error calculations. The Winter 2009 issue of Foresight had an article by Kesten Green and Len Tashman, reporting on a survey (of the International Institute of Forecasters discussion
During the week of August 1 - 7, 2010, SAS Customer Intelligence will be making a big splash in the New York area and there are several ways you can catch up with us in person: CRM Evolution Conference & Exhibition This event begins on Monday, August 2 and ends
As a marketer I spend all day, every day thinking about expressing how my company's products meet market/customer needs. I work hard on the prose, simplify the diagrams and especially focus on the underlying issues. That said, I have a sneaking suspicion that I could be doing better and here's
Art Carpenter offers tremendous advice to SAS programmers who want to maximize their job security: make your programs impossible for others to read and understand. In his published papers, Art (in his tongue-in-cheek manner) presents practical examples for how to accomplish this. I'm afraid that with our new code formatter
The Summer 2010 issue of Foresight is now available. Here is Editor Len Tashman’s preview: For so many years, we forecasters have developed and refined models for demand forecasts – forecasts for product and item sales, orders, shipments – without paying adequate attention to the details of how these forecasts
What is Risk Management? Risk Management can be found in many forms. This was emphasized to me while I was Googling “risk management in financial firms.” What I found were hits covering risk management across a wide spectrum of activities, from risk assessment for projects large and small to mathematical
Cisco just released one of those big reports that is bound to get everybody all aflutter. The Cisco 2010 Midyear Security Report is subtitled, "The impact of global security threats and trends on the enterprise." No points for guessing that I jumped straight to the social media section, after seeing
My introduction to the issue of risk in business decision making came rather abruptly and rudely during what I thought was going to be another routine quarterly business review with the executive committee. My particular agenda item was to present the business case for a “lite” version of one of
Our “Nuts & Bolts of Social Media” video series carries on with a new interview between SAS’ Deb Orton and Gary King, CIO of national clothing retailer Chico’s. Gary begins with a brief story of how Chico’s started as a small store selling folk art (Really? Yes, really.), before transforming
Better forecasting can, of course, help address many business problems. We want to believe that more accurate forecasts are always possible. “If only,” management bemoans, “if only we had bigger computers, more sophisticated software, more skilled forecast analysts – or if the analysts we have just worked harder!” Unfortunately, there