Izenda Embedded Analytics and Technology Blog

Sep 23
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JC Penney’s Data-driven Mistake and What We Can Learn From It

By | Business, IT and Engineering

Don’t be blinded by big data.

That is the warning in a recent InformationWeek (gated) article and online discussion, pointing out that just because you have flashy, powerful, big data metrics, they are not the only valid or pertinent metrics. Recently ousted CEO Ron Johnson of JC Penney cited all kinds of detailed data to justify major reorganization for the company in 2012, and then made fundamental alterations based on it. Deep discounting ended, private labels would no longer be as emphasized, and online product lineups were slashed.

As we now know, the changes upset the company’s core market while failing to attract much new interest from other demographics or clientele, resulting in a sharp drop in sales overall: $12.9 billion in 2012, down from $17 billion in 2011.

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Sep 17
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The Cloud is Changing IT – and the Skills You Need

By | Business, IT and Engineering, The Cloud

A few weeks ago we debated whether or not there’s still a place for the Chief Technology Officer in the increasingly cloud-based workplace universe. At the very least, his role will change significantly.

But that isn’t a bad thing, and in fact, as anyone who is in IT already knows, the department and its role within the enterprise is constantly evolving. So similarly to the CIO’s changing purpose, worries, and responsibilities, those of the larger IT department are changing yet again to adjust to the plethora of cloud services. Cloud services shift management of server workloads and other traditional IT responsibilities onto these outside vendors and third parties “who already have the skills to manage complex infrastructures at a cheaper price than paying for in-house IT department employees.”  On the surface, this might leave IT professionals fearful for their jobs.

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Sep 11
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Microsoft: a Company in Flux. Where Will the Chips Fall?

By | Business, IT and Engineering, Microsoft

Britain Nokia Microsoft meetingA recent article purports that “With Nokia, Microsoft has no more excuses.” It has all the pieces it needs now to succeed or to fail. We found this assessment quite compelling. Microsoft is not going to become a “Devices and Services” company overnight. It takes a long time for a ship the size of Microsoft (and even bigger with Nokia now in tow) to correct course once the rudder is moved. Between the company’s massive “One Microsoft” reorganization, the eventually “retirement” of CEO Steve Ballmer, the integration of Nokia and the naming of a new CEO, Microsoft is going to be in a state of flux for the foreseeable future.

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Sep 03
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Microsoft Exec Responds: Critics Are Focusing on the Wrong Things

By | Microsoft

There are some things Microsoft is doing very right.

Since the news on August 23 that Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer will be stepping down within the next year, there’s been a maelstrom of responses across the tech world. We’ve contributed our share, too. In fact, something our CEO Sanjay Bhatia said on Stuart Varney & Co. struck a chord with me, and I heard a similar sentiment in a blog posted this week on the Official Microsoft Blog by VP of Communications Frank Shaw.

While making reference to Charles Dickens and Rashomon, he responded to all the critics and pundits evaluating all of the Rights and Wrongs in Microsoft’s last decade and a half: we’ve all got our own biases and perspectives, and each person will see Microsoft’s lifetime differently. If you’re focusing on all the bad, or calling the company “unfocused,” that’s what you want to see. He is free to see the exact opposite.

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Jul 10
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Creativity, Shaking Up the Enterprise: Tips on Innovation

By | Business

Tips for infusing your company with creativity, from the big guys.

Creativity drives innovation. That’s not news to anyone in tech, software, or any other industry. But there’s been a significant embracing of think-tank approaches to innovation in top-tier companies. It’s an investment in creativity that all small businesses can use as a source of inspiration. IT innovation is an essential part to remaining competitive today. Done on a small or large scale, it has to be done within every business, yours included. Computerworld put it this way:

With globalization, changing customer behavior, the spread of consumer technologies and cloud capabilities lowering the barrier of entry to new competitors, organizations are increasingly looking to technology-induced innovations to distinguish themselves in the market.

Computerworld did an extended series on some top-tier enterprise companies, filled to the brim with relevant tips to make creativity possible. Take inspiration from these major companies and the ideas and approaches they are using to get creative in enterprise.

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Jun 17
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Great Software Gives Power to the People

By | Business, Customer Success

“Power to the People”

Rich Barton, founder of Expedia and Zillow, has always sought to put more power in users’ hands.

We have him to thank for the revolutionary way we now plan our travel: independently. He describes the frustration he felt in the early days of the Internet, when travel agents had access to databases that regular citizens, travelers, were not privy to.

“It was giving consumers access to information and databases that they knew existed because they either saw or heard professionals over the phone clacking away on a keyboard accessing that information. I remember I wanted to jump through the phone and look at the screen myself, turn it towards me and just take control. And I knew that I would spend more time and do a better job searching than this person who was doing something on my behalf, and who really didn’t know my preferences but was just trying to approximate them.”

So he did what he’s consistently done ever since: disrupted the market and brought about a revolution in the travel industry.

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Jun 10
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Sears Turns Shuttered Stores into Data Centers

By | Business, IT and Engineering

In this week’s brilliant business news…

There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a long-established and behemoth business make a brilliant business move. It doesn’t happen as often as we’d like. But Sears has definitely done it.

a Sears department store storefrontUnder a newly-created unit of Sears Holdings, Ubiquity Critical Environments, the company will utilize its shuttered Sears and Kmart facilities for data centers, disaster relief sites, and cell phone tower sites. The company has a massive real estate portfolio, with 3,200 properties comprising more than 25 million square feet of space. As dozens of the stores included in this total have closed over the past several decades, Sears hopes to make this conversion a solid shift into the 21st century, digital-based economy.

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May 28
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Small Business, Big Data

By | Business, Customer Success, IT and Engineering

I run a small software business, what do I do with Big Data?

Large volume of data streaming 0's and 1'sIt’s a buzz word that has spread across seemingly every industry, from healthcare to media analytics to education. Not only are leaders across industries still trying to wrap their heads around this concept, it seems like everyone is tripping over their competition to have “the most” — and the most advanced — big data first.

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