Category: Blog Categories

  • The Data Vault Experience Workshop

    The Data Vault Experience Workshop

    Data Vault Companies have long struggled with making their data warehouse resilient to change. While traditional data modeling approaches such as Kimball, Star schemas & Inmon are great for directly performing analytics, they have shown weaknesses when it comes to reacting to serious organizational changes. Retaining history properly and redesigning the schema can be challenging.…

  • Is McGuyvering the right approach for your cloud data warehouse?

    Is McGuyvering the right approach for your cloud data warehouse?

    Developing & operating modern cloud data warehouses requires the right tools to handle the various complex associated tasks. Cutting corners by leveraging a concoction of disparate tools puts your investment at risk.

  • Ice Bathing Quantified

    Ice Bathing Quantified

    Shock! “OMG, OMG” – The discomfort I experienced was almost unbearable. My entire body was begging me to get out of the cold swimming pool on a dark & rainy afternoon in November of 2021. It was getting difficult to regulate my breathing. Two hotel guests walked by and shook their heads in disbelief that…

  • Industry 4.0 and the sensor data analytics problem

    Industry 4.0 and the sensor data analytics problem

    That sensor data problem A few weeks ago, I met with a number of IT consultants who had been hired to provide data science knowledge for an Industry 4.0 project at a large German industrial company. The day I saw them they looked frazzled and frustrated. At the beginning of our meeting they spoke about…

  • Industry 4.0 & Big Data

    Industry 4.0 & Big Data

    Industry 4.0 If you work in a manufacturing related industry, it’s difficult to escape the ideas and concepts of Industry 4.0. A brainchild of the German government, Industry 4.0 is a framework that is intended to revolutionize the manufacturing world. Similar to what the steam engine did for us earlier in the last century, smart usage…

  • The Big Data Challenge of Activity Trackers

    The activity tracker revolution Activity trackers such as the ubiquitous Fitbit, Jawbone and the Garmin Vivofit are extremely popular these days. You can frequently spot them on colleagues, friends and customers. Their popularity raises a question: Does the collected data add value to your personal life? As a data hungry endurance athlete who relies on…

  • Keep natural gas flowing with analytics

    The Power of Data Last week, I had the honor to moderate the OSIsoft 2014 user conference in San Francisco. Over 2000 professionals came together to discuss the value and use of real-time data across different industries. There were a ton of really interesting and inspiring customer presentations. It’s just amazing to see how much…

  • Data is only useful if you use it!

    The value factor We have all become data collectors. This is true for corporations and individuals. Organizations store petabytes worth of customer transactions, social sentiment and machine data. SAP’s Timo Elliott recently wrote a nice blog post about the ‘datafication’ of our own private lives. Just to give you a personal example, I have over…

  • The Power of Data – Collaboration

    It’s my data! No doubt – there is tremendous value in data. I use data collected from a small sensor in my bike to improve my cycling performance. Factories leverage data to keep their machines humming as long and as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, most companies have historically tried to keep data for themselves. Sharing…

  • Naked Statistics – A book review

    Scary Statistics Amazon.com recently recommended the book Naked Statistics: Stripping Dread from the Data. Since I already knew the author Charles Wheelan from his awesome book Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science (Fully Revised and Updated) I went ahead and bought this one for my Kindle. Great decision – it is one of those books…