Alison Bolen is an editor at SAS, where she writes and edits content about analytics and emerging topics. Since starting at SAS in 1999, Alison has edited print publications, Web sites, e-newsletters, customer success stories and blogs. She has a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from Ohio University and a master’s degree in technical writing from North Carolina State University.
When I started college 25 years ago, we didn’t use email. I moved into the dorms my freshman year with a Brother Word Processor, convinced I would never have a single computing need beyond the necessity to type, save and print text. It’s incredible to consider how wrong I was.
Did you know today is National IT Professionals Day? I'm sure you broke out your party hat. And you're dancing a shared cloud infrastructure dance. Am I right? Since this looks to be a new holiday, we thought we'd help you celebrate with links and resources. Share them with your favorite
How long have you been reading SAS blogs? And do you have thoughts on how we can improve them? In 2007, we launched the SAS blog program with just one blog and a handful of bloggers. Today, we have more than 30 blogs and hundreds of active bloggers. As we
Are you embarking on a big data project or implementing a new analytics program and need some inspiration? I'm not the kind of person who buys posters of inspirational quotes to hang on my office walls. But I have been known to scribble a favorite quote on my office white board. And to share quotes
How is it that some companies can come up with a big idea and implement that idea successfully in the market, while others never get past the idea phase? "In the case of innovation," says Jill Dyché, VP of SAS Best Practices, "big ideas aren't enough." It's also not enough
What is true customer loyalty? And how can you achieve it without compromising data privacy? According to Peter Hedberg, a senior customer relationship manager with SAS, true customer loyalty programs put the customer at the center of the relationship and use data in ways that are designed to please - not panic
If you read SAS blogs but never click through to the comment sections, you're missing some great information. Need proof? Check out some of these comments from the last few weeks. And then leave one of your own. Kelly McGuire has been studying the effects of negative hotel reviews online.
Have you heard that data scientists are in demand, and wondered what it takes to be one? Take some advice from Wayne Thompson, Chief Data Scientist at SAS, and Chuck Kincaid, Engagement Director at Experis Business Analytics. Start by following these four pointers from Thompson and Kincaid, and then learn more by watching
The Google Flu Trends application has received negative press since 2013 over its inability to accurately detect flu outbreaks. The latest critique, “The Parable of Google Flu: Traps in Big Data Analysis,” from Science magazine compares Google Flu Trends data to CDC data and dissects where the Google analysis went
