I just finished reading a great article from one of my former colleagues, Bill Franks. He makes a strong argument that Big Data is not inherently good or evil anymore than money is. What makes Big Data (or any data as I see it) take on a characteristic of good or evil is how it is... more
In my last blog post I discussed the top 5 Big Data challenges listed below: It’s difficult to find and retain resource skills to staff big data projects It takes too long to deploy Big Data projects from ‘proof-of-concept’ to production Big data technologies are evolving too quickly to adapt Big Data projects fail to... more
I previously wrote about how regulatory compliance could be used as an opportunity to build the foundations for a flexible data environment. This opened up a few conversations with some colleagues, which makes me think that I actually missed a key point in my previous blog: Why is it that compliance is so hard? After... more
Recently, my US-based job led me to a South African hotel room, where I watched Germany play Brazil in the World Cup. The global nature of the event was familiar to me. My work covers countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, South Africa and Costa Rica. And as I pondered the stunning score (Germany won, 7... more
In the recent past, we were constrained by many limitations around data. Now, we are only limited by our imagination. By using more data and more types of data, we can fundamentally transform our organizations, and our world. These transformations bring great opportunity, but also come with challenges. To that end, here is my take... more
A few weeks ago, a regional US bank asked me to perform some compliance and use case analysis around fixing their data management situation. This bank prides itself on customer service and SMB focus, while using large-bank product offerings. However, they were about a decade behind the rest of most banks in modernizing their IT... more
I recently heard a couple different analogies for data. The first is that data is the “new oil.” Data is a valuable resource that powers global business. Consequently, it is targeted for theft by hackers. The thinking is this: People are not after your servers, they’re after your data. The other comparison is that data... more
I have been in marketing for over two decades. As I meet people in social situations, on airplanes, and on the sidelines at children’s soccer games, and they ask what it is I do, I get responses that constantly amuse me and lead me to the conclusion that the general public has absolutely no idea... more
About 15 or so years ago, some friends of mine called me to share great news. Their dating relationship had become serious and they were headed toward marriage. After a romantic proposal and a beautiful ring, it was time to plan the wedding and invite the guests. This exciting time was confounded by a significant... more
Managing the recovery and flow of data files throughout your enterprise is much like managing the flow of oil from well to refinery – a wide range of tasks must be carefully completed to ensure optimal resource recovery. If these tasks are not handled properly, or are not addressed in the correct order, valuable resources... more