For several years now I have been talking, lecturing and blogging on the similarities and synergies between natural and technological ecosystems. There are so many examples where the best way to craft a technical solution has been to look at what nature has evolved to do over billions of years
On a recent trip I bumped into some old colleagues from a previous company, and we began to discuss what we were working on and spoke of how quickly – in only a few years – innovation and technology have come on. And this is because innovation waits for no
Back in the early 1900s, Philadelphia retailer John Wanamaker supposedly said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” Wanamaker’s dilemma was that although he knew that traditional advertising of the time – newspapers, billboards, posters and the like – resulted
Since the rise of the industrial revolutions, there has always been a very active debate among the academic community confronting “technology innovation optimist” and “technology innovation pessimist”. Likewise, there is debate whether artificial intelligence (AI), like many previous technologies could have a positive or a negative impact on the economy,
The data science community has embraced hackathons in a big way. My colleagues are active participants, some are organisers and many are habitual prize winners. We have explored how hackathons support innovation and build teams. But mostly, these have looked at how to inspire adults. As a parent, I was
This is the last article in a three-part series on how to reduce uncertainty in the supply chain to reduce costs. This article deals with reducing uncertainty in the interface with your suppliers and supply network. There are several ways to define uncertainty. I like two angles on uncertainty (which
Every cloud has a silver lining, especially in insurance. The upcoming International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS 17) regulation is certain to unsettle the industry. However, to ignore the bright side would be a big mistake. Achieving compliance is not only for satisfying regulators, it can be a competitive advantage
The true test of when a technology has become mainstream is when it is being widely used across the whole business, from customer-facing functions to backroom work. Analytics has been customer-focused for some time, and has also been widely used for individual performance, for example, by sports teams. The advent
In the Cologne district of Mülheim, not far from Keupstrasse with its oriental charm of doner restaurants, baklava, cafés and mosques, and next to old brick halls, concert halls and television studios, lies Carlswerk, a large former industrial area that has been transformed by the arrival of both new and
As more and more organisations embrace advanced analytics, we are starting to see several very successful implementations emerging, on both a small and large scale. At the same time, however, many organisations are not getting value from their expensive investments in analytics systems. And while failing may provide useful
