A large number of companies are starting to implement at least a few of their projects using agile approaches. They do so because it is becoming known that agile projects are more successful and their stakeholders more satisfied. It is risky if a company starts implementing agile before they understand exactly what it means in…
Article published in MonitorPro 04/14, p. 39-40. Do small businesses have big data and if so, how can they take advantage of big data analytics? The perception that small businesses have too little data or that there is no time or interest to perform data analytics or that it is too expensive is simply not true….
“Big data” generally refers to enormous volumes of data stored in distributed NoSQL databases on massive servers with parallel processing. Thus many people believe that advanced analytics or data science is the same as buying the required technology. While we do need technology to analyze huge amounts of data, we also have to understand the…
All of us who manage IT projects know that risk management is very important. At least that is what they teach us. However, do we really manage risk in the real world, do we pay it enough attention and last but not least, do we even understand the meaning of project risk management? — MonitorPro…
As data volumes increase to the point where we call them “big data”, users’ appetites increase alongside. They want to be able to quickly analyze these huge volumes of data and achieve immediate business intelligence results. Agile approaches are becoming common in software development because they enable users to receive tangible results in short time…
Humans often understand data better if we see it in a graphical format rather than just looking at numbers in a spreadsheet. Data visualization technologies enable us to transform data into visual building blocks that enable us to easily spot trends, discover connections among data elements, present interesting discoveries to others or to detect trends….
Whenever we talk about large volumes of data or »Big Data«, we almost always mention Hadoop, which may have even become a synonym for storing and accessing huge amounts of unstructured data. Although there is lots of chatter about using Hadoop in business environments, many business users don’t know what it is and how to…
Social media is increasing in popularity, both among individuals and businesses. Companies have their social media presence where they listen to what customers say about their products, services and brands. Such information can be useful in business intelligence solutions because they represent another useful source of data. — MonitorPro magazine, summer 2013, p. 16-19
Companies must have good quality up-to-date data about their customers, suppliers, products and services to be able to efficiently run marketing campaigns and communicate with business process stakeholders. Data quality is very important for efficient analytics and business intelligence. — MonitorPro spring 2013, p. 26-29
After more than 20 years in corporate IT consulting environments, I volunteered my project management services to a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Cambodia. Here are some of my experiences of the challenges facing project managers in NGOs and in developing countries in general. NGOs are non-profit organizations that typically function in the areas of social…