A busy final day in Berlin

After three intensive days, this conference is coming to an end now. Apart from the pleasure of meeting so many friendly faces who share an interest in our discipline, I am enjoying the feeling that I have once again gathered a multitude of fresh ideas – or should I say, loose ends – that I will take home and reflect upon. And I hope you feel the same way. Here are just a few thoughts on today’s keynote and workshops.

Stephen’s bid for the BICC
Stephen Brobst, Teradata’s CTO, made a strong case for the concept of the BI competence centre (BICC) that would serve as a link between IT and business users. The idea is to say good-bye to the project-based implementation approach and form permanent teams with experts from both sides. “Good plans are not set in stone. They embrace change, and don’t prevent it,” he said. The BICC would spread analytical skills and best practice examples throughout the enterprise, and quickly identify new business information needs and find their solutions. This entity would define standards and the overall BI architecture – but more importantly, it would adjust the BI environment to business users’ preferences and requirements, not vice versa.

Healthcare workshop
There was also the healthcare workshop that we set up together with SAS. Jürgen Kellermann and Matthias Kleinschmidt of GKV Spitzenverband, a German association of statutary health insurance based here in Berlin, gave us some insight into the good work both they and their members do. Apparently, they do not only have to make extra sure that they comply with privacy regulations – there is also the competition among its members that they have to take into account. Still, they manage to establish meaningful benchmarks and produce figures that serve as a valuable basis in negotiations with the medical associations. In other words, even in a highly sensitive environment, there is leeway to examine anonymous health data for opportunities to cut costs and increase medical effectiveness. Which is good news considering that practically all healthcare systems (in the Western hemisphere, at least) face similar problems.

Automotive podcast
As for our special automotive track at this conference, I am sorry that I couldn’t find the time to cover it. From what I hear, it has been a very productive encounter of two (up to now) distinctive cultures, engineering and IT. On the one hand, data analysis has already been a common method among engineers, for example in quality assurance. On the other hand, the enterprise-wide approach that Teradata adheres to means: First, that there are many other valuable data warehousing applications for the automotive industry, for example in supply chain management or CRM. Secondly, this leads to more available data, such as reported early warranty cases, opening up new analytical opportunities in quality management. As for the latter, this podcast with Duncan Ross explains the potentials.

Remember the Marauder’s Map?
Finally, just one more remark. I remember that last year, during the Istanbul conference, I was formulating the vision of some kind of Marauders Map on our smart phones that maps the marvels of the city we’re in adjusted to our individual preferences and social networks. Judging from what I have seen on the smart phones of our participants, we have already come halfway here. There is no shortage of apps that help you to find your way through a city you don’t know. As for the analytical part which is necessary to further customize this information, I am sure that we will see a lot more in the future.
For now, let me thank you for your participation. I hope you found this conference as inspiring as I do. I wish you all a safe and comfortable journey home.