Amazon’s Cloud, Future of CIOs, and Career Advice for All in IT

Career Advice, Leadership

Amazon’s Cloud, Future of CIOs, and Career Advice for All in IT

5 Apr , 2016  

Amazon’s cloud services business (as part of Amazon Web Services – AWS) has been a great success and shows no sign of retreating. Amazon’s cloud computing business did exceptionally well in the fourth quarter of 2015, generating $687 million in profit on sales of $2.4 billion.[1] That is a business on track to generate $10 […]

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Digital Lessons From Disney’s $1 Billion Experiment: Marketing and Operations Intertwined

Digital Strategy, Innovation

Digital Lessons From Disney’s $1 Billion Experiment: Marketing and Operations Intertwined

30 Mar , 2016  

Disney Does Digital…Very Well! The Disney dive into digital has many looking for lessons from this business leader. Disney supplies customers with Disney MagicBands, wristbands equipped with RFID technology.[1] The wristbands enable customer-level tracking, creating lots of data on transactions, customer check-ins, and customer movements. It is estimated that deploying this technology has cost Disney […]

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Become a Digital Disruptor: Lessons for Startups, Investors, Innovators, and Entrepreneurs

Digital Strategy, Innovation

Become a Digital Disruptor: Lessons for Startups, Investors, Innovators, and Entrepreneurs

16 Mar , 2016  

A great focus for many startups, investors, and entrepreneurs is creating the next Uber or Airbnb. I have examined how both Uber and Airbnb have leverage data in powerful ways. A great deal of their success comes from their superior digital platforms, so let’s examine what principles are at work in becoming the next digital disruptor. […]

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Mastering Digital & Other Lessons from Netflix: When is a Customer a Fan?

Digital Strategy, Innovation

Mastering Digital & Other Lessons from Netflix: When is a Customer a Fan?

13 Mar , 2016  

Netflix has long been heralded as a leader in the use of analytics and even the creation of novel big data. That is all true. Nobody knows more about movie tastes than Netflix, with its some 1 billion reviews in its database. The graphic above shows that Netflix can use such data and customer behavior […]

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Harvard Business Review Webinar: From Big Data to Big Profits

Big Data and Analytics, Innovation

Harvard Business Review Webinar: From Big Data to Big Profits

29 Feb , 2016  

Everywhere you look there is mention of “Big Data.” But what business people care most about is turning big data into big profits. This is the focus of Russell Walker’s book From Big Data to Big Profits:

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Lessons from Nest: Leveraging Big Data for Solving Big Problems – Managing Complex Systems

Big Data and Analytics, Digital Strategy

Lessons from Nest: Leveraging Big Data for Solving Big Problems – Managing Complex Systems

29 Feb , 2016  

Big Data and Big Profits: Nest Optimizes the Mechanical Realm By now, most of us have seen or are even using programmable thermostats. One of the recent and more interesting offerings in this space is from Nest. Nest sells a thermostat that captures data about human presence to self learn what heating and cooling decisions […]

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Airbnb: Lessons on Digital, Start-ups, Big Data and Disrupting Markets

Big Data and Analytics, Digital Strategy

Airbnb: Lessons on Digital, Start-ups, Big Data and Disrupting Markets

13 Jan , 2016  

When Airbnb began as a means for its founders to rent out their air mattress (hence the air in Airbnb) few predicted that it would transform the real estate rental market. By now, Airbnb is a legitimate means for selecting rooms or houses for rent in many markets. As an example of the success and […]

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Uber-fication: Lessons from Uber in Economics, Digital, Risk, and Analytics

Digital Strategy, Innovation

Uber-fication: Lessons from Uber in Economics, Digital, Risk, and Analytics

22 Nov , 2015  

With the continued growth of Uber in many markets, it is worth considering what Uber has done that drives such success and why so many businesses are seeking an Uberization or Uber-fication  solution to their business. Below is a listing of lessons on what to do if you are seeking to Uber-ize your business model. […]

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IBM’s Big Bet on Big Weather Data: A New Data Strategy

Big Data and Analytics, Digital Strategy

IBM’s Big Bet on Big Weather Data: A New Data Strategy

8 Nov , 2015  

IBM’s Big Bet on Big Weather Data: A New Data Strategy The move by IBM to acquire the Weather Channel is a great example of how IBM is transforming Big Data to Big Profits. In the above figure, IBM plans to predict hail storms and help car owners and insurers avoid expensive and often avoidable […]

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College Football: Lessons in Big Data and Data Visualization. Who’s Your Fan?

Big Data and Analytics, Innovation

College Football: Lessons in Data Science, Data Visualization & Big Data

8 Oct , 2015  

Things are a bit different this Fall at Northwestern University, and it feels great! The Wildcats are undefeated and ranked ahead of Michigan, who they will meet on Saturday in one of the biggest games for the Wildcats in recent memory. Yet, Michigan is favored in the game. Go figure.  College football offers us a […]

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