Business Intelligence + Big Data
January 2014

In this issue you will find an expanded "News, Insights and Resources" section.  In our analysis of your clicks in 2013, this section turned out to be of very strong interest to you.  We will continue to publish what we think are outstanding Big Data, Data Warehouse and BI articles, insights and resources that would be of strong interest to you.

Check out an interesting management piece on "How to Build a Winning Team," plus "Big Data FAQs," and "Address Validation with IBM InfoSphere DataStage."

Remember, we are a first-class consultancy that can help you quickly and affordably deliver technologies, architectures and methodologies for Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Big Data, ETL, Mobile BI, Analytics, Cloud and reporting solutions. If you need help with your MicroStrategy, IBM, Cloudera, Informatica projects (plus many others), give us a call today at 214-618-5000!


The iOLAP Team

News, Insights and Resources [That Caught Our Eye]
 
Harvard Business Review Network, "Big Data's Biggest Challenge: Convincing People NOT to Trust Their Judgement."  Click here to read the article.

Forbes Magazine article,
"Big Data and Advanced Analytics: Success Stories from the Front Lines." Click here to read the article.  

ZDNet Blog, "Predicting Big Data's 2014: A Summary of Big Data New Year Predictions." Click here to read the article.

Data Science Central blog, "Big Data Sets Available for Free."  Click here to read the article.

KDNuggets Data Mining blog, "Top 2013 LinkedIn Groups for Analytics, Big Data, Data Mining and Data Science."  Click here for the full article.

Harvard Business Review Network, "Small Businesses Need Big Data, Too."  Click here to read the article. 

CIO.com article, "Is Data Complexity Blinding Your IT Decision Making?"  Click here to read the article.

Information Week article, "Gates Foundation Big Data Grants Stress Open Data."  Click here for the full article.

Inside Analysis webinar archive, "Five Critical Success Factors for Big Data and BI."  Click here to register for the free archived webinar from 2013.

Harvard Blog Network, "Are You Data Driven? Take a Hard Look in the Mirror."  Click here to read the article.

If you see an article or webinar you like, email me ([email protected]) and I'll include it in the next issue.


How Do You Build a Winning Team?  
Steven Crofts, Vice President of Marketing, iOLAP, Inc.

 

StevenCrofts

Like most of you, I work in the corporate world. I've been around long enough to be part of good teams and bad teams. I have also had the opportunity to build teams. Building a team is challenging and a lot of hard work. Being on a bad team is a stressful nightmare. Building a bad team is, well, a long story. If you did it once, you're probably no longer with that company.
 

I am also a big football fan. High school, college, professional, fantasy--I like all of it. I never played on the field myself but I love watching a great game at any level. As the season winds down at this time of year, I always get a little sad that it will be eight months before I get to watch my favorite teams again.

 
Click here to read the entire article on the iOLAP blog.
 

Big Data FAQ
Chris Ware, Principal Consultant, iOLAP, Inc.

 

In the real world view, Big Data is the culmination of several years' worth of data that your company has stored in their data warehouse as instructed by their DBA since, well, forever. This data that has been archived in different locations for safe keeping, and possible later use, is extremely valuable for marketing, sales and other decision makers in your organization.

The official Wiki definition of Big Data is: "a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications."   

 

Click here to read the entire article on the iOLAP blog.

Address Validation with IBM InfoSphere DataStage   
Erich Guenther, Senior Consultant, iOLAP, Inc.

 

Maintaining a database of postal mail addresses requires them to be maintained over time and validated. Conventional wisdom is usually that an address database should be largely static and never change after data entry unless someone physically moves. However, as in many cases, conventional wisdom is not correct in this case. Both the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Postal Service (USPS) recommend that physical street addresses be maintained at least once a quarter via a process named geocoding, which includes street name, city, state and zip code validation.

 

Click here to read the entire article on the iOLAP blog.

 


Upcoming Events
 
Exhibiting at  TDWI Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, February 24-25, 2014.  
 
Exhibiting at Gartner Business Intelligence Summit 2014, Las Vegas, NV, March 31-April 2, 2014

 
iOLAP is a Dallas-based strategic data consultancy specializing in Data Warehousing (DW), Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data strategy and solutions.

 

iOLAP is completely focused on these markets and brings a client-centric and business-focused perspective to all of our engagements. iOLAP has been in business since 1999 with in-depth expertise across all DW and BI technology areas, including the newest leading-edge Business Analytics and Big Data architectures. iOLAP serves some of the world's largest companies across all major industries.

 


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iOLAP is a frequent contributor to important global 
thought leadership on Business Intelligence and Big Data.
 
Come see why at www.iolap.com 
or call us at (214) 618-5000