Data and Usability

Not all data is usable on its own. The vast majority of it isn’t in its raw form. Its coal. It has potential. But on its own, it has limited uses. Algorithms are the modern day equivalent to machinery. Fire (combustion) is really just statistical analysis – a violent process that generates waste in the [...]

Oct

24

eMetrics New York 2011

I’ll be at eMetrics next week. I hope you will be too. It’ll be great to be back in New York. There are a few people that I’m looking forward to seeing: John Lovett on social media, Melinda Driscoll on web analytics, Shari Cleary on media, Joseph Stanhope on mobile, Alex Langshur on government. And [...]

Oct

16

Our Mobile Planet – Select statistics for International Smartphone Penetration

Have you seen this site, put out by Google for their “Our Mobile Planet” study? It’s an excellent way to present data in a very accessible, very explorable way. I found it inspiring. The call to action is “create your chart now”. A very good, honest, call to action. The technology adoption S-curve can be [...]

Oct

10

Moneyball and Analytics

The plot of Moneyball is fairly well known among analytics folks. It’s a relatable example of how to  compete on analytics. Many statisticians love baseball. It’s a natural extension. And it’s been written to death about in the pop-analytics literature. It’s good stuff. It’s a nice case study. John Lovett predicts that Moneyball will put [...]

Oct

02

Analytics in Toronto

Analytics is alive and growing in Toronto. This post summarizes what I know I know. If you define analytics as being ‘the scientific method applied to data to generate sustainable advantage’, then there are three major concentrations of practitioners: finance, marketing and operations. The financial sector breaks out into the risk management and the speculation [...]

Sep

11

Analytics At Scale

Two trends, an exponential increase in data produced, and a linear increase in the number of analysts produced per quarter, continue pose a massive challenge to businesses and analytics practices alike. We need both physical technology and social technology to practice analytics at scale.   There are three grouping of physical technologies: First, there’s instrumentation [...]

Aug

21

Of Whiteboards and Powerpoint

I tend to leave a trail of giant whiteboards wherever I go. The giant whiteboard is one of the most important instruments in an information firm. Whiteboards are colorful and communicative. They’re democratic. Anybody can really get up, grab a marker, and really go at it. They’re raw. They’re just awesome. I use them to [...]

Jul

28

Eat:Strategy, Recap and Reflections

Duane Brown‘s launch of Eat:Strategy was a success. Speakers included Brian Cugelman, Jon Lax, and Cheesan Chew among many others. It was the first time, to my knowledge, that marketing strategists and design thinkers got into the same room and talked to each other. Duane’s format was effective. Speakers got 20 minutes to present, had [...]

Jul

21

What Causes Branding?

What do you think causes branding? I’ve been asking myself that, part of my series on being skeptical of root assumptions and theories, and took the opportunity to work through something in a foreign land. I spent some time in real Mexico, and couldn’t resist a first exposure. I went to a ‘Mega’, without really [...]

Jul

07

INFORMS Marketing Science 2011 – Day 2, 3, and Reflections

For a complete running commentary, see Dr. Dann’s twitter stream, or run a search for mktsci2011. A few points you might care about. The problem with communication flow between academia and industry is not an academic problem. They’re doing just fine, and it certainly appears as though the money is flowing. The problem is on [...]

Jun

11

« Previous Page
Next Page »