Tax fraud…5-7 years in prison. I thought I had it all figured out. The government wades through millions of returns and tries to issue refunds quickly. Sure, I filed over a thousand for my clients, but that’s just a blip on their radar. I never thought I’d get caught. But
Judging by the spike in media coverage of tax fraud, one might think accountants have suddenly been inspired by Breaking Bad re-runs, and turned en masse to lives of crime. Umm… no. But, there are two good reasons for all the attention. One reason is because of a new law
Election fever has hit the United Kingdom as the days count down to 7th May 2015. This is likely to be one of the most uncertain elections in recent memory, with nearly 10 parties struggling for votes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Results night will be tense, with the different
I was recently asked by a customer if they should move the responsibility for creating the statistical baseline forecast. They were considering moving it from their regional country offices to their global headquarters. In addtion, they were considering changing the role of their regional demand planners to only make adjustments to
“Begin with the end in mind” - Habit #2 from Stephen Covey’s ‘Highly Effective People’. The Edge Foundation is based on the premise of: “To arrive at the edge of the world's knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them
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
Si no ha escuchado acerca del SAS Global Forum, queremos contarle porqué ha sido durante 40 años, el evento más importante a nivel mundial para los profesionales en analítica y Big Data organizado por SAS. Además de ofrecer inigualables oportunidades de educación y trabajo en red, miles de asistentes de
Just this morning, the course leader at our newly created SAS Space & Astronomy School told me that they picked up a broadcast signal from outer space. By analysing all the data they have been collecting, they were able to quickly spot a spike in the trend pattern, which helped
This blog post discusses the use of a black background in a graph. But before we get started, I invite you to have a listen to one of my favorite songs - "Paint it Black" by the Rolling Stones. Perhaps this song subliminally persuaded people to use black backgrounds in
In February of this year, the Washington Business Journal reported the US Government appointed its first Chief Data Scientist, DJ Patil. With this, I think it’s now safe to say that Data Science is officially sanctioned as new mode in organizations. Those that can apply the necessary finesse along with
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
Having spent many years in graduate school, and living in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina, I have a lot of friends from other countries. Therefore when I recently saw some stories & graphs about EB-5 visas (where you invest a cool half-million US $ to bypass the
March is national Social Work Month and this year the National Association of Social Workers celebrates its 60th anniversary of facilitating positive social changes and improving the lives of individuals and families. Social work is a profession that considers the needs of others every day. Individuals who dedicate themselves to
En la implacable economía de hoy, las organizaciones que compiten con analítica se quieren destacar por ser más inteligentes que su competencia, y es apenas obvio. Sin embargo, pueden enfrentarse con un problema: la necesidad de profesionales cualificados que sepan cómo manejar y generar información procesable que fluya a través
Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory - hopefully you'll enjoy mine about the number of US E1 visas! I was perusing some of the US government charts, and found one on US immigration visas that caught my attention. It was a 3D bar chart, and since I always mistrust 3D
Advances in technology, evolution of the distribution channels, demographic shift, economic conditions and regulations changes. How does an insurer prioritize all these seemingly competing goals and create sustainable competitive advantage. One answer is analytics. Many insurance companies are just beginning to take steps toward becoming an “analytic insurer” – one
Es posible que escuchemos hablar de innovación muy seguido. La innovación se ha convertido en una de las preocupaciones más recurrentes en las organizaciones actuales. Hace apenas unos años la revista Forbes clasificaba la innovación en tres tipos: incremental, de plataforma y disruptiva. La primera, la más común en las
When do analytics really provide value? All the time, of course. However, one of the best times for analytics to prove their value is when you are asked to do more with less. Often, the reason we are asked to do more with less is because of an economic downturn
England’s shambolic early exit from the Cricket World Cup has stirred up a hornet’s nest about the team’s supposed over-reliance on data. In the aftermath of their defeat to Bangladesh, coach Peter Moores said: ‘We thought 275 (runs) was chaseable. We’ll have to look at the data.’ It prompted outrage from
Beyond traditional clustering and predictive models lies social network analysis. It can help describe customers’ behaviors in new ways, but what exactly is it and how can businesses use it? To find out more, I interviewed Carlos Andre Reis Pinheiro. He’s been working in social network analysis around the world
For Parent’s Weekend this year, I needed to choose a restaurant for dinner in my son’s college town. Our extended family was attending the college football game and spending the weekend with our son. Before making my decision, I searched the internet for all the restaurants located within a reasonable
You may be intrigued to know how the average person compares to a gold medal winning Olympic athlete when it comes to things like height, body mass, resting heart rate, arm span, body fat etc. Or, perhaps more frightening, how you measure up? I know this will resonate with my
Public educators have increasingly been told to produce the “workforce of the future.” States are striving for alignment between what students learn and the jobs that ultimately will be available to them. This alignment is critical for students so they have the right skills and knowledge to excel at college
You might be surprised at how many movies and TV shows are made in North Carolina - especially within the last few years. This blog provides a SAS graph that will make the list of films even easier to read! A recent story by the Tar Heel Traveler, and an exhibit
Seguramente ya ha escuchado hablar sobre Hadoop y todas sus potentes capacidades, de no ser así, este sistema no es más que un marco para software de código abierto que permite almacenar y procesar grandes volúmenes de datos de forma distribuida en un gran número de productos de hardware. En
Despite an increase in the availability of data in the federal government over the past few years, data and analytics could be doing even more for federal agencies. A strategic approach to managing and analyzing the data is needed. And, like many technology challenges – that’s a people problem. A
"You show me a successful complex system, and I will show you a system that has evolved through trial and error." ~ Tim Harford TED Talk link: http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_harford Karl Marx died thinking that the first communist revolution would occur in Great Britain, driven by the long hours and unsafe
After the legalization of recreational marijuana use in Colorado in 2012, it has been a much more frequent news topic than before - even from a data analysis perspective... I was recently looking for 'interesting' data to analyze with SAS, and I noticed some articles about the increasing potency of marijuana in
As the point person for SAS joining the new Open Data Platform (ODP) initiative, I want to make it clear why SAS is involved with ODP, and why we think it’s important to our customers, and the Hadoop and big data ecosystem as a whole. SAS is not in it to
How many of us have heard or even said the phrase, "If it's not broke, don't fix it." While on rare occasions this may be the correct approach, it is a statement that stops innovation and creativity in its tracks. You might as well say, "Because we've always done it that
