The Customer Network: Spheres of Influence

May 21, 2013 by David Loshin

In one of my previous posts, I introduced the idea of customer connectivity in the context of archetypical roles that Malcolm Gladwell describes in his book “The Tipping Point,” namely the connector, the maven and the salesman. And last time I introduced some concepts associated with the graph abstraction for representing relationships among a community of actors. Customer connectivity, as reflected in the many different types of actors and relationships, can be modeled as a social network graph.

The Decision Wobegon Effect

May 15, 2013 by Jim Harris

In his book The Most Human Human, Brian Christian discussed what Baba Shiv of the Stanford Graduate School of Business called the decision dilemma, “where there is no objectively best choice, where there are simply a number of subjective variables with trade-offs between them. The nature of the situation is such that additional information probably won’t even help. In these cases – consider the parable of the donkey that, halfway between two bales of hay and unable to decide which way to walk, starves to death – what we want, more than to be correct, is to be satisfied with our choice (and out of the dilemma).”

Modeling the Types of Customer Connections

May 14, 2013 by David Loshin

Your community of customers, like any other community, consists of a collection of individual parties that can also be referred to as “actors” who are related to one another. These relationships can be modeled using the graph abstraction, in which every actor is represented as a node, and every connection between two actors is represented as a link or an edge between two nodes.

Permission and Forgiveness

May 09, 2013 by Phil Simon

“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”

–Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

Grace Hopper’s quote goes a long way – and applies to many facets of life. While the axiom may be true, some companies are finding out that it’s better to go the permission route.

Why Leapfrogging to Big Data Is a Bad Idea

May 02, 2013 by Phil Simon

Can an organization that has historically managed its data poorly start “doing” Big Data well? It’s an interesting question, and I’m not the only one asking it.

The Next Step: Enhancing the Master Data Via Data Warehouse Consolidation

Apr 30, 2013 by David Loshin

Last time we looked at how the tools and methods incorporated within a master data management system can contribute to ensuring the satisfaction of the success criteria for data warehouse consolidation. MDM provides some valuable capabilities that will simplify the consolidation processes.

Leveraging Master Data Management as a Tool for DW Consolidation

Apr 23, 2013 by David Loshin

In the past few postings we looked at some of the issues that emerge as a result of uncontrolled creation of data warehouses and data marts. I suggested that the goals of a data warehouse consolidation project should not only include the creation of a new data asset that accommodates the users of the “to-be-consolidated” warehouses and marts, but that those systems should be retired and replaced by the new asset.

Considering Success Factors for Data Warehouse Consolidation

Apr 16, 2013 by David Loshin

The last thing you want to result from a data warehouse consolidation project is the creation of yet another siloed data asset that must be populated and managed with respect to the requirements of the downstream users.

To really benefit from a consolidation project, your newly-created consolidated warehouse should replace the data marts and warehouses that are used to populate…

Reporting and Analytics Modernization through Data Warehouse Consolidation

Apr 09, 2013 by David Loshin

At this point in time, many medium to large organizations have a history of developing systems for reporting and analysis. Simultaneously, these organizations have evolved a set of basic processes that “pump out” a series of data marts used by specific business functions for generating reports.