I just attended the last IDEAS conference for DataFlux in Las Vegas, NV. For 10 years this conference has been attended by people hoping to learn more about data management, data governance, master data management and data quality. From now on these conference needs will be met in the larger SAS conference’s data management track. I don’t necessarily think this is all bad. While I will miss the boutique feel of the IDEAS conference, we will now be exposed to all of SAS. For some, you may be thinking -- OPEN YOUR MOUTH HERE COMES THE FIRE HOSE! For me, I say YAHOO! More fun to come.

We now have an opportunity to drive the data management needs of the enterprise alongside and integrated with other SAS products. This should open more opportunity in sales, as well as more opportunities for consulting. We can also hear how those OTHER companies deal with data quality issues, data governance issues, data integration issues and ETL issues. Sounds like fun to me! I hope all of us will be have the opportunity to be together again, and to experience that wonderfully familiar feeling of IDEAS.

THANK YOU DATAFLUX FOR 10 YEARS OF FUN!