Yesterday I had the privilege of accepting the TSIA STAR Award for Best Use of Metrics and Business Intelligence on behalf of EMC. This is the third year in a row that EMC has won this award. EMC’s commitment to improving our customers’ experience is what this is all about. Our core metrics are designed

Are you attending the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) Technology Services World conference next week? I’m looking forward to the conference, and also to co-presenting a breakout session there called, “The Artful Manager: How to Leverage Business Metrics to Greatest Effect.” I love this topic, so running a breakout session on it should be fun…

Everybody is buzzing about predictive models, and for good reason – they are sexy! Here’s some advice for people just starting out or interested in predictive models. One size does not fit all – don’t try to force it! Define a goal – why are you building this model? Play, play, and play some more

Shadow IT groups exist in every large company, whether you want to admit it or not. Traditional IT is not always agile enough to react to many of the business’s demands. In many tech companies, other groups have the resources and skills to do things themselves. Big Data problems exist in part due to many IT

I recently read an article by SiliconANGLE’s Jeff Kelly about “Coming to Grips With Multiple Versions of the Truth.” This article hit home with me because at EMC we often are tasked with creating one scalable version of the truth. However, “the truth” can be different depending on what you are trying to accomplish. IT’s

I recently attended a three-day Visual Business Intelligence Workshop presented by Stephen Few.  I was happy to hear Stephen cover some of the very basics that so often go overlooked.   The workshop started with the basics and progressively built on them.  If you are interested in data visualization, I would recommend checking out his website

Who doesn’t want to make better, more informed business decisions? Businesses are increasing their focus on business intelligence because they see the value it provides. The data (and the answers) are out there, it’s just a matter of going and getting it. Unfortunately, you can’t just Google the answer to your business issues yet –

To truly be able to assist the business you support, you must understand what pitfalls to avoid when analyzing their data. All too often, people jump into “data mining mode” without thinking about what they are doing. They just play around and start drawing conclusions. I’m a huge fan of playing around in the data;

A fellow InFocus blogger, EMC Consulting’s Bill Schmarzo, recently posted about “Finding the Right Metric”. He used fielding percentage vs. effective fielding range as a great example of how Big Data can help general managers identify better predictors of a baseball fielder’s performance, without encouraging bad player behavior. As a Data Scientist you will often

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Dave Vellante and Jeff Kelly on theCube at Wikibon headquarters. It was a lot of fun talking with these guys about my role as a data scientist and what EMC is doing within Customer Support Services to leverage Big Data. In the interview, you will hear me

“Consistency” doesn’t have to mean “overkill.” How many meetings do you attend where several presenters show the same 20 slides – and often show a slide when there is no real need, just to meet a consistent format? Excel charts and tables embedded in PowerPoint slides may be the most commonly used format for business

There usually isn’t a shortage of opinions around the hot topic of performance metrics. My take is performance metrics are great. I love them! Now that you are angry with me, let me explain why by referencing the saying, “Don’t Hate The Playa/Playette, Hate The Game”. Urban Dictionary defines this saying as “Do not fault

How many times have you heard, “Bad data means bad decisions”? Starting with the Best Available Data (B.A.D.) is a great approach because it gets the inspection process moving. The best way to engage key stakeholders is to show them their numbers, even if you have low confidence in the results. If done well, you

This is the second in a two-part series. See Part 1 here In my last post, I introduced six guiding principles for creating real business intelligence. The first three were: Look at your business from the customer’s point of view Improve communication One version of the truth Now for the last three: 4. Hold management

In my last few posts, I spoke about the emerging Data Scientist role and the systems thinking approach that is so essential to it. I’ve been on a journey for several years now, supporting Tony Kolish, Senior Vice President of the Customer Support Services organization As part of this journey we’ve learned, among other things, that all the

I recently attended a leadership meeting where Howard Elias, EMC President and Chief Operating Officer, Information Infrastructure and Cloud Services, spoke. As part of his presentation he emphasized the importance of Systems Thinking. Systems Thinking is one of a Data Scientist’s most essential tools. The ability to tell a story from huge amounts of “Big Data” is only

I wanted to take a step back and talk a little about who I am and what I do. My first love is my family: my wife and two young children (a girl and a boy). They keep me grounded, and even after the worst day they can make me smile. My second love is

I just watched a YouTube video on How to position yourself as a Data Scientist‏, and I really like what this guy had to say. The key points he talks about – how this role is still loosely defined, and what it takes to position yourself as a Data Scientist – were right on. I’m not

Data Science is making its way to the forefront of how we look at our business. We now have the tools (such as Greenplum) to access, analyze, and take advantage of our data (and there’s more of it than ever before). Our Data Scientists play a critical role in making this huge amount of data meaningful