Research Backs Up Current Views Over Cloud Computing
By LogicEvangelist | May 21, 2009
One of the major constraints of business intelligence implementation is the processing capability of the enterprise infrastructure. Cloud computing offers a feasible solution to this issue - but it doesn’t come without a number of obstacles. A recent report published by Berkeley Research Report on Cloud Computing outlines their views on cloud computing.
On the positive side, the report suggests that although cloud represents a ‘great opportunity to exploit unprecedented IT resources it has a number of obstacles to overcome”, ten according to the report.
In the report ‘Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing‘ the group ,which works in the Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory funded by companies such as Google, Microsoft, IBM and Sun, argued that “the construction and operation of extremely large-scale, commodity-computer datacenters at low-cost locations was the key necessary enabler of Cloud Computing”.
In respect of service provision, the paper defines different types of cloud computing providers, ranging from the infrastructure end typical of Amazon EC2 to the application-specific services such as those provided by Google AppEngine. Providers must also do their bit to ensure availability by accessing massive bandwidth to insulate against the impact of DDoS attacks. And some good news. For those who fear that commoditising computing power will lead to a low-margin business model, the Berkeley team disagrees, stating “The apparently low costs offered to cloud users may still be highly profitable for cloud providers.”
Not a lot to add to that we already know. But they did highlight that “vendors need to rethink the way they build their products”. In particular they referred to the ability to both scale up and DOWN to meet the changing needs of users, and that service plans must also accomodate short term needs for computing power.
The hardware needs must also be scaled up, with larger racks, energy efficiencent servers and flash memory.
A key enabler of multi cloud computing vendors will be the development of a standard set of application APIs - it doesn’t matter what the technology, standardisation issues always rise to the top and act as a major constraint.
The 10 obstacles to cloud computing:
- Availability of service
- Data lock-in
- Data confidentiality and auditability
- Data transfer bottlenecks
- Performance unpredictability
- Scalable storage
- Bugs in large distributed systems
- Scaling quickly - up and down
- Reputation fate sharing - an interesting term the report elaborates on
- Software licensing
Not a lot the industry is not already aware of, however, the report also provides some good suggestions for customers of cloud computing, such as procuring services with several cloud providers to ensure service availability.
Topics: BI Strategy, Decision Making, cloud computing | No Comments »
vSphere - Changing the Face of IT
By LogicEvangelist | April 29, 2009
The role of IT managers is changing. Changing from selecting boxes and pipes that run the business transactions and communications to selecting and negotiating IT service contracts, managing SLA’s and seeking out new technologies to boost business performance.
Today, 75% of IT budgets are spent on keeping the lights on. This is severely restricting allocation for business building technologies such as business intelligence. However, cloud computing will change that. The strategies and concepts around cloud computing and BI are challenging IT managers to rethink and restructure the role of IT in business. To many, the fear of being made redundant to outsource providers keeps many IT managers awake at night. However, the reality is more that the role of IT will change, rather than reduce. A change that will see IT become more engaged with the business outcomes of IT, rather than the technology itself.
Just as markets have evolved, communication formats have evolved, and IT hardware has evolved - IT infrastructure has evolved in its entirety. Just as the provision of electricity moved from individual generators to centralized mainstream services, so too are IT services.
It will be the role of IT to keep abreast of new technologies and work with the business to understand how this might help the business become more productive and more profitable. Combined, BI and Cloud computing have already bubbled to the surface of the business – from being part of backend, ‘under the covers’ infrastructure to being the center of strategic strength of the business. Those CFO’s and CEO’s who understand this will be the industry leaders of the future.
With the launch by VMWare of its innovative cloud operating system vSphere 4, virtualization has almost been demoted from being the latest word on everyones lips, to being a small part of something much bigger – and something much more exciting.
Cloud networks keep the lights on – and let IT managers sleep at night. Not only are cloud infrastructures intelligent in recognizing that a network is failing to meet a client SLA, they are self healing, adding additional resource or capacity on demand. No IT intervention required. This is exciting news for many businesses who are struggling with their BI programs through underperforming infrastructures, and prior to vSphere the nightmare of ungrading to meet the processing demands on BI.
Rather than being afraid of upcoming technology, IT managers should be rubbing their hands together in delight at the prospect of no longer having to go to the business begging for more budget, just to keep the basics alive.
More about VMWare vSphere 4
Topics: BI Strategy, Change Management | No Comments »
Are We Getting Better At Decision Making?
By LogicEvangelist | April 13, 2009
I came across this video and it raised an interesting point - are we getting any better at decision making? Now the studies prove that we are not making better decisions, but are we any better at how we approach our decisions? According to this video the anwer is NO! And the reason is not because of the speed and complexity of business - but because we have yet to recognize and accept decision making as a distinct process.
Most of us do not look at decision making as a distinct process, with very distinct pitfalls and very distinct remedies. In its simplest form, the decision process has four steps:
Key Takeaways
Frame - Solve the right problem, by framing the issue correctly. Most people solve the wrong problem – makes it difficult to find a good solution. Frames are mental constructions that reduce the problem to its core essence. This often requires that you step away from this issue and determine whether what you are focusing on, is what you really need a decision on. Different people see a different reason. At this stage we must determine whether the frame is correct for the decision that needs to be made.
Investigate - Once you have a frame, then look at the quality of the intelligence and data. It then challenges those involved as to whether it confirms or challenges our beliefs.
Negotiate - Decisions often requires tradeoffs, so you need to understand the various parts of the solution, the cost of each part and the benefits gained from it.
Learn - how this decision can benefit you and how you can leverage the most from it.
Good decision making is about balancing the resources and effort on each of these four steps
Topics: Decision Making, Logic | No Comments »
2 Common Errors in Demand Forecasting
By LogicEvangelist | March 23, 2009
The two most common errors that many companies make in demand forecasting are in:
- The basis for forecasting
- The confusion between demand and targets
Many product based companies tend to forecast based solely on SKU. The true demand for any product or service is for the features that a product or service has. Each SKU needs to be regarded as a particular combination of features that define the product. The forecasts must therefore be based on combination of features and only then, linked back to SKU.
It is not uncommon to find many companies adopting the old ‘forecasting’ approach of 5% increase on the same month for last year, and add in any corrective factor for the current economy. This just doesn’t make sense. You may want to set your targets on this basis – if one of your corporate objectives is to increase sales volume by 5% over the whole product portfolio, but it is no way to forecast.
This raises the second fundamental error. Earnings targets are NOT forecasts. Forecasts are driven from the market up. Targets are driven from the boardroom down. They tend to collide in marketing with an alarming confusion of terminology. The demand from the market has nothing to do with the demand from your boardroom. Forecasts are demand planning, and it is hoped that the marketing tactics deployed generate sufficient demand to meet or exceed boardroom demand.
Topics: Demand Forecasting, Marketing | No Comments »
Edumotional Selling
By LogicEvangelist | March 19, 2009
One of the paradoxes of sales performance today is that the customer expects the sales person to have in-depth understanding of their unique business, and they also expect immediate response. So just how does a sales rep meet this challenge – they must do a lot more work upfront of the first sales meeting. This often means a combination of online research, data from sales intelligence services, input from industry or functional experts relating to the prospects business and engaging in presales informational meetings with those below the level of decision making. The old step of pre-qualification filtering has now extended into quite an extensive information gathering exercise, often carried out by sales op support teams.
The key is in Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: BI for Sales, Decision Making | No Comments »
Wine Intelligence Provides Interesting Case Study During Recession
By LogicEvangelist | February 15, 2009
I was glancing through the headlines of my BI RSS feed when I came to a sudden stop at the headline “Wine Intelligence”. Now anyone who knows me will acknowledge that my passion for BI is only equalled by my passion for fine wines and chocolate. So this headline was brewing up to a perfect storm pour moi.
When I am investing in real estate, one of the demographic markers I use for the area is gained by visiting the local supermarket and checking out what wines they stock, and the balance between different price points. So I was intrigued as to what wine intelligence was all about.
Clicking through to the site www.wineintelligence.com I found an array of interesting market data extracted from Vinitrac Global consumer survey, due for launch in March 2009. Insights such as:
“lot of turbulence in the middle of the Wine Wall ($4-$10)”.
“Buyers really are trading down from $7.99 to $5.99″
Following 9/11, it was proposed that wine sales were “recession proof”. The New York Times recently reported that consumers are trading down, but buying more. The argument given was that there was “even more of a reason to drink,” ….I’m with you on that one buddy! Whilst the price dropped 17%, the volume increased 15%. But what about the impact on the producer side. Since the cost of distributing a $5.99 wine is not $2 less than a $7.99 wine, trading down has a big effect on producer and retailer profits…..so one can expect revenues and profits to take a hammering. In markets such as China, where wine is still considered a luxury item, it is more easily deleted off the shopping list without substitution.
All this data is harvested from grocery store loyalty card programs…there is a reason they are willing to give you all those airpoints and free homewares. The article represents a great example of how important it is to understanding the desires and thought processes behind consumer behaviour. In any market condition!! It also illustrates how modelling a current scenario, aligning to common elements in past scenarios can help companies predict with reasonable certainty how the market will react to certain products and services.
Read the full article http://www.wineintelligence.com/
Topics: Customer Behaviour, Decision Making, Intelligence | No Comments »
Choice of 3 Simple Responses to the Current Downturn
By LogicEvangelist | February 12, 2009
Since most of you have been bombarded with blog entries and articles on how to survive the tough times, I am going to keep this short and sweet. There are only 3 ways to respond to the current situation:
- Ignore It,
- Accept Defeat, or
- Take Control
And the way to take control is to put the customer back into the center of your business
“Act on every lead, Win every deal, Keep every customer.”
It is easy for businesses to seek complex solutions to simple problems, and whilst the magnitude of the problem today is significant, the best response is quite simple. If your business does not have the tools to tell you how well you are performing in each of these three key areas, how do you expect to perform better than your competitors. BI is about collecting data on a continuous basis so you can convert it hour by hour into usable, actionable information. If you can not see the change in state of your business in real time, you are going to find it very difficult to make the best of the current market environment. I have a favorite saying….If its not in sight, it’s not insight!
Even large, cumbersome businesses are experiencing remarkable improvements from using BI solutions:
Sales Pipleline - 172% increase
Sales Growth - 70% increase
Team Productivity - 20% increase
It’s no longer a matter of not being able to afford CRM/BI tools - it’s a matter of not being able to afford to NOT have them.
So don’t let the current gloom beat your business - get data, get insight, get ahead….Take control!
Watch out for my next blog which will include a short audio on exactly how BI provides competitive advantage in EVERY part of your business.
Topics: Decision Making, Leadership, Management | No Comments »
Business Intelligence Bringing Left Brain Innovation Into Play
By LogicEvangelist | February 6, 2009
Over the past few years, innovation was a big part of the strategy in most organizations. This often resulted in various education programs to activate and energize the so-called creative right brain. Business intelligence tools are now bringing the innovation focus to the left side of the brain, the logical side.
It is often thought that the left side of the brain lacks the ability to provide for innovation, yet it is the very logic of the insights gained from BI tools that is driving organizations that use BI to becoming market leaders.
With the economy seemingly collapsing by the minute, the availability of reliable, relevant information is even more important than ever. The market forces and interrelationships are more complex than ever before, and Sales and Marketing teams that lack this capability will struggle to identify where their efforts will provide the best returns.
Listen to this brief audio on how BI can benefit the effectiveness and profitability of sales teams.
Topics: BI for Sales, The Logical Organization | No Comments »
The Dangers of Relying on Long-Term Memory in Decision Making
By LogicEvangelist | February 3, 2009
I often get challenged when I suggest that most of us have pretty poor long term recall. Admittedly, I too once believed that about myself – and worse, I still do believe that! And this committed, falsely held opinion is the very essence of why business leaders and decision makers can NOT rely on memory to make decisions today.
In spite of thinking you have the ‘memory of an elephant’, the brain knows otherwise.
Long term memory resides in an area of the brain called the Hypocampus. Alcohol interferes with forming long term memory, as does being relaxed. At the opposite end of the scale, fear strengthens memory. This is why we remember events connected to strong emotions. This is because emotions use the same part of the brain as long term memory.
To remember something long term, the brain must make chemical pathways or connections between brain cells. And it helps when those brain cells co-exist in the same part of the brain. Eye witness accounts are typically very unreliable, despite the person truly believing they are representing an accurate account. For instance:
- Color is inaccurate
- The brain adds logically expected items
- Tunnel vision is common – don’t see beyond the zone of activity related to stress. This disturbs recall outside a few details
For these reasons, it is not difficult for a skilled person to change people memories. Lawyers use the minds infallibility all the time to confuse and trick witnesses – at times resulting in prosecution of the innocent and freedom of the guilty.
Juries are very convinced by eye witnesses. Studies have shown that 54% of jurors swing their decision between guilty and not guilty based on eye witness accounts that are ‘guided’ by the lawyer’s questions. It has also been found that 95% of convictions overturned by DNA were originally convicted based on eye witnesses accounts.
So before you start getting defensive about being the exception to the rule, and priding yourself on your excellent memory, just remember, data-driven evidence does not lie.
Topics: Decision Making, Logic | No Comments »
Personal Performance Dashboards Invaluable for Motivation and Job Satisfaction
By LogicEvangelist | January 28, 2009
All employees have good days and bad days – sadly, it’s the bad ones that remain most memorable and can often attract a black cloud over the personal job satisfaction. This in turn plays havoc with motivation and the downward spiral kicks in.
Studies have shown that managers’ behavior dramatically affects an employees’ work. And with the Peters Principle alive, well and kicking it doesn’t take a genius to work out that perhaps delinking an individual’s personal performance from their managers perception and personality might just have a positive impact. In some interesting research by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer’s carried out over three years daily entries by knowledge workers over revealed how dramatic this impact can be.
People need continuous, honest feedback of their work and the opportunity to improve based on their own efforts. The single most powerful motivator for employees is their ability to make progress in their work. Often this progress is shrouded in a raft of small calamities that naturally occur throughout a workday, or the mood of a work colleague or boss. Having a personal dashboard gives an employee the truth without the attitude. It helps individuals see past the gloom and recognise small incremental gains in their performance. If the dashboard is correctly designed to link performance to corporate strategic goals, it also helps them understand how their work contributes the overall success of the business. This in itself is a powerful motivator.
The motivational strategy of many managers is somewhat misguided, especially when praise is given without real progress. Equally, good progress without recognition is more demotivating; especially for Gen Yrs who thrive on instant feedback.
As an admission, I am not an HR expert, or even a manager of a large team, but I have been a performance coach and consultant for nearly 30 years and have worked with a lot of different businesses, managers and teams. I am however an expert in the power of business intelligence – and it’s not just for measuring operational and marketing performance. Personal dashboards should be on the desktop of every employee. They provide the transparency of real performance, without the filtration by management. They relieve managers from micro-managing their teams and empower individuals to make small incremental improvements in their daily tasks.
The power of personal dashboards is not just with the task workers. Managers also benefit greatly from them. Most managers are generally overworked and overstressed and it is almost impossible to isolate these feelings from your staff. Using technology to help manage team performance makes a lot of sense, and releases managers to evolve to a more coaching and leadership role.
Topics: BI for HR, Dashboards, Leadership, Management | No Comments »