El big data analytics es el motor de la economía de la información… pero para entregar el máximo valor de los datos, las organizaciones no sólo necesitan tener las herramientas adecuadas, también necesitan tener a los mejores profesionales. En ese sentido, SAS realizó recientemente una encuesta para explorar cuál es
With all the hype over big data we often overlook the importance of modeling as its necessary counterpart. There are two independent limiting factors when it comes to decision support: the quality of the data, and the quality of the model. Most of the big data hype assumes that the data
Double negatives seem to be everywhere, I have noticed them a lot in music recently. Since Pink Floyd sang "We don't need no education", to Rihanna's "I wasn’t looking for nobody when you looked my way". My own favourite song with a double negative is "I can't get no sleep" - Faithless. This
After doing some recent research with IDC®, I got to thinking again about the reasons that organizations of all sizes in all industries are so slow at adopting analytics as part of their ‘business as usual’ operations. While I have no hard statistics on who is and who isn’t adopting
Big data. Streaming data. Complex data. We’ve all heard the reasons why organizations feel like they’re facing an insurmountable data challenge. Now, it’s time to do something about it. For the past few years, SAS has helped some of the world’s leading companies make sense of an avalanche of data.
It’s great to get in on something on the ground floor. That’s what happened at the inaugural Data4Decisions Conference and Exhibition held in Raleigh, NC, in March. It brought together business people, academics and students to explore how organizations use data management and analytics technology to enhance business processes and
In the Cold War techno-thriller WarGames, a marine monitoring a nuclear missile silo deep under the Nevada desert sees a red warning light blink on his console. “Just flick it with your finger,” his colleague tells him. He does, and the bulb goes out. Problem solved. But what will their
“Let’s assume a normal distribution …” Ugh! That was your first mistake. Why do we make this assumption? It can’t be because we want to be able to mentally compute standard deviations, because we can’t and don’t it that way in practice. No, we assume a normal distribution to simplify
Flexibility and nimbleness are terms synonymous with small and mid-sized businesses. They have the ability to react quickly to changing market conditions as they are made aware of them. Traditionally these businesses have lived in the world of spreadsheets - and why not? They are easy to use, very affordable
The rise of analytics and big data presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for organisations to put themselves at the cutting edge, to create a competitive advantage by developing a culture of analytical success within their organisation. Yet most seem unable to grasp the opportunity that is within their reach. Eric Hoffer
You might assume that a battle-tested businessman with a gruff exterior and a taste for salty language lacks an inner child, but you’d be wrong. Exhibit A is this little-known fact: I have a soft spot for animated Disney movies. Now, I could try to bluff a bit and say
Would you build a house without a proper foundation? Most of us wouldn’t dare, but that’s exactly what many retail businesses are doing today. When building a house, if you don’t get the foundation right, paint, wallpaper and fixtures won’t matter much. It’s no different in the retail industry. Success
The rumors, flying for many moons now, have turned out to be true. Followed by U2's new album release, Apple announced the launch of the Apple Watch for early 2015. Apple has finally unveiled its first foray into wearable technology. The Apple Watch (yep, not the iWatch), is an Apple
In the morning at 6am my iPhone buzzes. But it is not the alarm clock, rather it's important information from an app. What is this, I think to myself and look sleepily at the screen: "Danger of black ice! Already 15 km traffic jam on the A3 towards Cologne!
Imagine la siguiente situación: usted va al médico y le dice que algo le duele en la zona inferior del pecho. Ahora basado en esta corta descripción usted espera a que él le dé un diagnóstico y a que le sugiriera alguna terapia específica incluyendo un tiempo y un costo.
Imagine this situation: You go to you doctor and tell her that "something hurts in the lower chest area." Now, based on this short description of your pain, you expect her to come up with a precise diagnosis and a specific therapy suggestion, including treatment time and associated cost. Sound
What insights can be gained from the massive amounts of data that allow us to make decisions that deliver the best results? Data vs. information is an ongoing battle. Many people look for more data to make confident decisions. However, what most people seek is insight. Retailers always have tracked
IT folks love SQL (Standard Query Language). Once you know how to program in SQL, you can work with almost any database because it is a standard. However, SQL is NOT a standard for doing analytics. The SAS programming language pre-dates SQL and even though SAS does SQL, SQL does not
Las crisis financieras han ocurrido desde los inicios de la historia mundial y forman parte de la naturaleza de los ciclos económicos. Es casi imposible evitarlas, pero sí se pueden desarrollar mecanismos de control y prevención que permitan al sistema financiero fortalecerse y mitigar sus efectos y propagación. Según Javier
Over the years, in all my roles within SAS, I've been asked by customers, friends, family and all sorts of people, "What does SAS do?" Bottom-line: SAS delivers results across the organization, because that is what it was designed to do. Specifically, SAS was designed to deliver analytic results, which
Our perceptions can impact others and influence decisions. As a result, I always like to understand each customer's perception of what SAS is and what we do. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, however the response provides me with a chance to listen to our customers.
Industry-changing dynamics like mobility, smart products, social media and embedded computing put a premium on big data and the insights you can gain from organizational data. As a result, the opportunity to be disruptive with analytics has never been greater. Yet, when it comes to making analytics work, not all organizations
If you've watched any of the demos for SAS Visual Analytics (or even tried it yourself!), you have probably seen this nifty exploration of multiple measures. It's a way to look at how multiple measures are correlated with one another, using a diagonal heat map chart. The "stronger" the color
Couldn’t make SAS Global Forum in person this week? You don’t have to miss out on any of the great news announcements being made in San Francisco. Here’s a quick rundown. At SAS we have big data on the brain, and SAS Global Forum is our opportunity to showcase SAS
I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to contribute to the recently published, “Positioned – Strategic Workforce Planning that gets the Right Person in the Right Job”, co-edited by Rob Tripp, Workforce Planning Manager at Ford Motor Company. The list of contributors is a Who’s Who of strategic
Dateline: October 4, 2012 – Facebook reaches one billion users! One billion people connected on a single platform; one-seventh of the world’s population. If you assume 40,000 BCE as the start of modern humans, it took the planet 41,804 years to reach a population level of one billion; it took
It goes without saying that if you know the value of analytics, it can sometimes be frustrating when leaders who may not have an analytic background do not understand or see the difference between basic reporting and advanced analytics. At SAS, we often refer to those two very different things
… and any fool will mind it”. ~ Henry David Thoreau. The EPA was in my neighborhood several weeks ago testing well water - never a good sign. It was determined that the subdivision just north and upstream of us had once been the site of a farm contaminated by
In case you are wondering, yes, I am reusing the same graphic from last week, but this time to make a contrasting point. Last time, in “The Skeptical CFO” I was focused on the VARIABILITY in the data and the forecast. This week, however, we’re headed in the opposite direction,
During a recent presentation on performance management I had an audience member ask me if perhaps I had minored in cynicism along with my degree in finance. I replied that, with the science, psychology and philosophy I’d taken, I probably had minored in skepticism, but that the cynicism came later,
