Getting started for Berlin…

„Berlin is the newest city I have come across“, wrote Mark Twain about 150 years ago, and I think it’s still true. This city is the embodiment of German history and the upheavals it has seen since the American writer has travelled the country. It seems that it keeps making fresh starts, never finishes, and is always under (re)construction. We were there for a few days to prepare the Teradata Enterprise Intelligence Summit, and when I looked around I saw recently built office blocks, old houses being renovated even though there are newer houses that looked even more decayed, empty sites, some of them having been empty for months or even decades, and so on. My German colleagues didn’t think all this activity was anything special. They remember that a decade ago the Berlin skyline was shaped by whole armies of cranes. And they showed me a few places where the locals retreat to relax as Berlin is one of the greenest capitals in Europe.

It’s this mixture that makes Berlin such an interesting place to be – at least for those who try to figure out a meaningful structure that captures life’s disorder. This is, in a way, what we are doing. I hope that this challenging mood will carry over into our conference sessions and fuel open, fruitful discussions.

Just like in the past years, the conference schedule is fully packed, so that some sessions take place in parallel. Also there are some special tracks that I would like to highlight:

- Automotive: On Tuesday morning, you can join our special automotive track with a number of sessions that focus on quality management and supply chain management in the industry. Various representatives of car manufacturers and Teradata will explain how data warehousing helps to identify quality problems and their causes faster.

On Wednesday, you can choose between our three User Group sessions:

- Healthcare: How can data analyses help improve quality of care while reducing costs? Representatives of GKV Spitzenverband, SAS and Teradata will debate this.
- Advanced Analytics: Data analyses have become critical for the success of many enterprises in the past decade. Panellists from Migros, SFR France, Indicium and Telefonica O2 will discuss which tools and models will shape the next 10 years.
- Customer Management and Insight: In this panel, representatives of Metro, Lloyd's and Pannon will tell us what they do in CRM. A Webtrends guest speaker will explain the latest developments in integrating online and offline channels to create a single customer experience.

Whatever your choices will be, you can always check out this blog for more news during the conference.
See you in Berlin!

Mario Bonardo