“Stump the Bloggers” with your questions on Capitalizing on Cloud Services and Transitioning to ITaaS.  Post your questions for InFocus bloggers here – and they will be answered live from EMC World May 21 (simulcast on the EMC Community Network).

This week, Wayne Pauley, Choong Keng Leung, and JP Morgenthal share their perspectives on IT Transformation and ITaaS and PaaS:

• ITaaS Assessment:  effective top down assessment process. 
• Transforming Your IT infrastructure: from Silos to consolidated infrastructures through the evolution from shared to Cloud and IT-as-a Service
• Key to Private Cloud is Removing IT Stratification: moving to an agile organization through the use of DevOps culture and other collaborative techniques
•  IaaS and PaaS: distinction between the two is no longer required

Congratulations to EMC for being recognized this week at the Technology Services World conference, the premier event in the IT Services industry. EMC was acknowledgement for commitment to service excellence in three categories:

• Innovation in Professional Services
• Professional Services Excellence in Enabling Customer Success (co-winner)
• Excellence in Use of Metrics and Business Intelligence

Frank Coleman discusses this award and the increased focus on Big Data and Business Intelligence.

Business Intelligence and Customer Data Quality:

• Bill Schmarzo explains how Hadoop, as your ODS and data staging area, can deliver new compelling business benefits: Understanding the Role Of Hadoop In Your BI Environment.
• Laddie Suk explores several core customer data issues that persist in today’s IT systems and covers Customer Data Quality- How to Measure it, Improve it and Make it Stick.

Strategic Planning

“Strategic planning is not something that can be fully programmed into a computer,” offers Dave Bagatelle in Financial Planning: Static vs. Probabilistic, contrasting straight-line assumptions and forecasting to more probabilistic advice and tools that support forward-looking advice.

“One Size Doesn’t Fit All…”  says Kevin Scanlon, with regards to customer Strategy.  “True return on a social media program is best seen in the cost savings.”   

This week we welcome Dave Bagatelle from the Asset and Wealth Management division of EMC Consulting to the InFocus Community. Dave covers The Importance of Understanding Customer Trends and explains that all touch points between a firm and a client should be constantly maintained and updated to ensure optimal customer experiences.

What’s the difference between Data Governance and Data Stewardship? Rachel Haines summarizes the Tactical vs. Strategic nature of the two.  The common thread is that these tasks are executed against specific business terms or data elements.

Nina Hargus, VP of Global Services Marketing, is a guest blogger, offering critical industry insight in her article, Cloud Computing: a Catalyst for Business Innovation.   Nina shares that cloud computing is one of the high tech industry’s most significant and disruptive developments of the past few decades, changing the way organizations build, operate, and consume IT.   In a word, cloud computing is transformative.

Which industry conferences do you attend?  Our bloggers speak at many events and would enjoy connecting with their readers.  For example, the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) Technology Services World conference is scheduled for next week and Frank Coleman will be in attendance as co-presenter during a breakout session called: The Artful Manager: How to Leverage Business Metrics to Greatest Effect.

“Stump the Bloggers” with your questions on Capitalizing on Cloud Services and Transitioning to ITaaS.  Post your questions for InFocus bloggers here – and they will be answered live from EMC World May 21 (simulcast on the EMC Community Network).

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Choong Keng Leong draws on Sun Tzu’s quote to explain the use of holistic strategies as the starting point for IT Transformation.

Engage in a discussion with InFocus Bloggers on “Capitalizing on Cloud Services: the Transition to IT as a Services” at EMC World May 21^st (3:30-4p PDT). In person or online, ask your questions (or post them below). Mark your calendar to join the discussion.

Bill Schmarzo partners with Warren Thornthwaite, one of the founding fathers of the data warehouse industry, to develop a list of top five BI/DW fundamentals.

In the finale to his series, Big Data MBA, Schmarzo covers changing the industry balance of power. He reviews the potential of combining Porter’s Value Chain and Five Forces Analyses around big data analytics, looking at the Walmart success story. Chicago-bound? If you’re attending the TDWI conference on May 8th, hear Bill speak on “Navigating the Road from Business Intelligence to Data Science”.

One of the arguments in the area of Business Intelligence concerns the level of detail at which a company should keep its data for the purpose of informational analysis. Jon Page answers the question, How Much Detail is Useful?

Embedding data governance into the software development cycle is a key strategy to Creating Cultural Change with Data Governance, explains Rachel Haines.

As financial services companies evolve, so too must their utilization of technology. John Jones shares his insights on a recent blog posting explaining why financial services companies must become tech companies.

Welcome to our newest blogger, Rachel Haines, who leads EMC Consulting’s Data Governance and Data Quality practice.  She explains that Data Profiling and Data Discovery are not synonyms. Yo Delmar, who blogs about governance, risk and compliance, covers risk appetite formulation and explains why it’s important for executive managers to sharpen this important skill.

Yo shares an announcement of the EMC GRC Eco-system online forum. The RSA Archer Community and Exchange is part of EMC’s ecosystem of communities (ECN) and  provides an active user community and an online exchange of applications, content, services, and integrations.

Across EMC we are getting ready to “wow” our customers and partners at EMC World.  10 InFocus bloggers will join thousands of IT leaders in Las Vegas, May 21st through 24th.  Blogger Mark Browne, Community Manager for the ECN Support Forums, shares some of what is planned at EMC World for Services Online Support, including Customer Council members answering questions live and online.

If you’re active in the EMC Community Network, share your favorite community with InFocus readers.  Attending EMC World? Be on the lookout for InFocus bloggers – or post a question for the bloggers to answer (streamed live) from the show floor.

Mary Cay Kosten shares how EMC is keeping an open dialog with employees to enable them to put customers first and allow them to deliver a superior service experience .  Alan Walsh shares his views on Constant Evolution Through Data Science and how this ties into customer satisfaction.

Frank Coleman borrows a line from a song for his article: Predictive Models Are Sexy and You Know It and provides advice on building your own, even if it’s just starting with something simple in Excel.  Dan Sigmon provides his list of Tools that make things easy and less complex, including VCE vBlock and VSPEX.

As promised, Bill Schmarzo’s Big Data MBA: Course 101A is back in session with Unit III. He introduces Michael Porter’s more familiar Value Chain Analysis as another business valuation technique for identifying where and how big data can impact an organization’s internal operations.

The Big Data MBA course series takes a week off as Bill Schmarzo shares his thoughts on the recent Gartner Business Intelligence Summit and provides some foresight on The Coming BI Tsunami, noting that “YOU need to take the initiative to stay informed and to make sure that your organization is jumping into the big data fray”.

Dave Blakelock also shares his final post in Understanding Your Customer with Advanced Analytics. Read his ideas about turning your data from various sources into actionable information.

Transforming IT continues as our topic of focus this week with answers to many questions about IT as a Service. Once you’ve bought into transforming IT to ITaaS, you need to answer a key question: “Where do we start?” Wayne Pauley shares his thoughts on the business skills needed by Cloud developers and explains “Why do Cloud Architects Need to be Business Savvy for ITaaS?” Edward Newman encourages you to look at Cloud as a service delivery model – not as a wonder drug in Cloud Conflation. JP Morgenthal goes on to answer “What does it mean to deliver a service?” Services has become a way of encapsulating a set of user expectations with regard to the acquisition and use of IT resources. 

Big Data MBA: Course 101A with unit II introduces the second business valuation technique which will help you explore what key business initiatives your organization could target. Join the classroom discussion online – or stop by the EMC booth at the Gartner BI Summit in Los Angeles April 3rd to engage with Professor Schmarzo.

Dave Blakelock doesn’t think loyalty is dead in the retail sector. What services help earn your loyalty?

Scott Burgess focuses on the impact cloud technologies are having on applications owners and the benefits of virtualizing applications in a short video, while April Reeve looks at transformation with respect to data virtualization and business intelligence. 

Take Bill Schmarzo’s MBA crash course on Big Data – the 1^st in a series. Post questions while you can – there will be homework in his next installment.

but as Dan Sigmon points out, you too may be able to Do Your Job In Paradise.  This may alternatively be known as The Sir Richard Branson Effect,  except you don’t have to be a multi billion dollar business mogul to get in on the action.

eTailers aren’t the only businesses using a mashup of data and technology to better serve their customers.  Brick and Mortars are finding ways to capitalize on tech that helps improve the in-store shopping experience for their clients.  In Honey, I’m Home, Dave Blakelock takes a look at how 2 retailers are honing their “1984″ -like tech skills very differently in the name of higher touch customer service in 2012.

We’d  love to hear your feedback.  Feel free to post your comments on any Blog entry and weigh in on the commentary to kick start a discussion.

Developing a reputation as a service leader requires adoption of a culture of service that runs deeper than the front line. Managing Your Service Culture is an investment that starts from the top down.  Dave Matson provides examples of guerrilla customer service in
Employee Empowerment Drives Customer Service Excellence.

Customers – Love ‘em or Lose ‘em. Dave Blakelock offers insight into the retail industry and the importance of beign nimble.

Dan Sigmon shares his views: Breaking News: JOBS DO EXIST and Detroit Rock City!

Which insights do you find most important for long term success? Join the discussion.