The performance ideas blog

Category: Events

  • Business Analytics News

    Business Analytics News

    Greetings from Munich, Germany! Just a quick update for this week.

    New Business Analytics blog

    There is a new business analytics blog you should check out. It is written by my Australian colleague Katrina Read and it’s called Kat’s Insigh. Her blog focuses on thoughts and ideas around IBM Business Analytics. Make sure to bookmark the site and/ or to subscribe to Katrina’s RSS feed.

    Katrina Read
    Katrina Read's Business Analytics Blog

    Finance Forum 2012

    The Finance Forum 2012 events are happening across the globe right now. These are one day events for finance and IT professionals. IBM has hired some fantastic external thought-leaders to speak at these conferences. Speakers include book author and leader of the Beyond Budgeting Roundtable, book author and forecasting expert Steve Morlidge as well as the ‘King of KPIs’ Dave Parmenter. I will be delivering the keynotes at some of the Asian and the European events next month. You can find the detailed schedule on the IBM website. Please drop me a note if you want to connect.

    IBM Vision 2012

    The IBM Vision 2012 event in Orlando was awesome. Almost 800 finance and risk professionals met last week to discuss trends in processes and technology. I personally enjoyed the clear focus on the conference. The break-out sessions were fantastic. I will try to post a few customer interviews next month. In the meantime, I would like to encourage you to watch the keynotes from Vision 2012. The Livestream channel features some great stuff including a thrilling presentation by Mt Everest explorer Alison Levine and IBM’s CFO Mark Loughride.

    ibmsoftware on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

  • IBM Vision 2012 – A great conference

    IBM Vision 2012

    Greetings from the JW Marriott hotel in Orlando. The IBM Vision 2012 conference for Finance and Risk Management professionals is going really well. Close to 800 professionals from all over the world are here. The atmosphere has been great so far. An event of this size allows people to easily connect with each other and to exchange a few ideas.

    Keynotes

    The keynotes of the events have been well received. They were action and information packed. The Tuesday morning presentations were especially insightful. Les Rechan kicked off the day with a few thoughts about the role of analytics in the office of finance. He was followed by book author Michael Mauboussin who talked about the power of counterintuition in decision making. John Hagerty from Gartner closed out the morning session with a few customer interviews.

    Make sure to watch or scan through the video recording.

    Watch live streaming video from ibmsoftware at livestream.com

    Stay tuned for further updates

  • IBM Vision 2012

    IBM Vision 2012

    Greetings from Orlando. I left Munich Saturday morning to attend the IBM Vision 2012 conference. This three day event for finance & risk management professionals will be exciting. There are fantastic keynotes lined up as well as a ton of awesome break-out sessions. I am really looking forward to it.

    IBM Vision 2012

    Keynotes

    The keynotes at IBM Vision 2012 promise to be especially interesting this year. The list of external speakers includes John Hagerty from Gartner, book author Michael Mauboussin and Everest explorer Alison Levine. Of course, there are also exciting IBM speakers including Les Rechan (GM for Business Analytics) and Mark Loughridge (CFO of IBM). I will be showing some great new solutions as part of the general keynote Tuesday morning from 11am – 12am EST.

    Join the conversation

    For those of you who will attend IBM Vision 2012, please do reach out to me (@cpapenfuss). I would love to connect. If you cannot attend the conference, you can still participate in the conversations. There are two main options:

    • Join via Twitter. The official hashtag is #vision12 . Also, make sure to follow @ibmcognos for updates. I will try to tweet whenever possible.
    • View the keynote sessions from your desk via Livestream. All keynote sessions will be broadcast and should be available for viewing after the event as well.

    Stay tuned for updates!

  • Please welcome IBM Cognos TM1 10.1

    IBM Cognos TM1 10.1

    There is a lot of exciting stuff happening in the Business Analytics area. Last week, I wrote about the release of the personal analytics tool Cognos Insight. But there is more. Along with Cognos Insight, IBM also released the latest version of TM1. And let me tell you, IBM Cognos TM1 10.1 is a significant release. There is a lot of new and really exciting stuff in there. Here is a really short preview. If you want to see more, make sure to register for the official virtual launch on Wednesday, March 7th.

    Performance Modeler

    One of the most significant enhancements to TM1 10.1 is the addition of Performance Modeler. This is the environment where you can build and maintain the different models for planning, forecasting, profitability analysis and such. Performance Modeler provides new and highly visual tools for getting the work done. There are guided processes for standard tasks such as importing data and deploying models to end users.

    Performance Modeler
    TM 10.1 – New modeling workbench

    (more…)

  • See you at the Gartner BI Summit next week

    Gartner BI Summit

    Time flies when you are having fun. I just realized that the Gartner EMEA BI Summit is just around the corner. It is scheduled to kick off in London next Monday, February 6th. The Gartner BI Summits are always a true highlight. I love the focus of the event, the variety of high quality presentations and most importantly the discussions between all delegates. London calling!

    Noteworthy Activities

    IBM is once again a premier sponsor of the event. Make sure to stop by our booth. You will be able to see some cool demos of Cognos 10, Cognos Consumer Insight for Social Media, the Cognos iPad solution and many other things. I will try to spend as much time at the booth as possible. Please drop me a note, if you want to meet for a cup of coffee.

    Here are some noteworthy sessions from the IBM side:

    Monday, February 6th:

    11:15 – 12:00: Panel discussion. This is always a highlight. Eric Yau, IBM’s VP for BI and Performance Management will participate this year.

    16:30 – 17:00: IBM Business Analytics Session. Harriet Fryman and I will show some cool new stuff in this session.

    Stay tuned for some updates from London next week.

    P.S.: Watch this video for a quick preview of what Harriet and I will present next week.

     

     

  • 7 reasons to register for the IBM Innovations in Business Analytics Launch

    The launch….

    Finally! The wait is over! Mark your calendars and register for the March 7th special IBM Business Analytics event. A bunch of really cool & innovative stuff will be revealed. And let me tell you: If you are interested in Business Analytics, you do not want to miss this product launch!

    IBM Launch
    Click on the photo to register

    Over the next few weeks, I will share a few additional infos about this product launch. Unfortunately, (more…)

  • What’s happening in the IBM Labs? The BA Forum Keynote – Day 2

    Information on Demand 2011

    The IBM Business Analytics Forum 2011 featured two keynotes this year. The day 1 keynote focused on the general IBM strategy in the business analytics segment along with several product updates and demos. The day 2 presentation had a bigger focus on specific solutions. And not only that: There was a preview of what is being developed in the IBM Labs. You will have to watch the hands-on demo.

    The Cognos keynote chapters

    In case you have limited time, here are some key chapters that can view in the video below.

    • Minute 10:30 – Trends & Decision Making with Deepak Advani
    • Minute 23:30 – Demo: Social Media Analysis – Jason Verlen
    • Minute 28:30 – Solution update with Deepak Advani
    • Minute 45:00 – Demo: Decision Management – Jason Verlen
    • Minute 55:30 – IBM Labs (Personal Analytics) with Harriet Fryman, Eric Yau and Christoph Papenfuss

    Watch live streaming video from ibmsoftware at livestream.com

    IMPRESSIONS

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  • Touch down in Las Vegas – BA Forum and Information on Demand 2011

    Viva Las Vegas! Greetings from Nevada. Our team arrived here at Information Demand 2011 Friday afternoon after a quiet connecting flight from Ottawa. It’s always neat to see conferences being setup – there is excitement and anticipation in the air. Last night we saw the crews building up the stages, hanging up posters and putting up signs. We just had a quick technical rehearsal for the keynote presentation at BA Partner Summit.

    Information on Demand 2011
    Soundcheck – Blinded by the lights

    BA FORUM AND PARTNER SUMMIT

    IBM Information on Demand 2011 and BA Forum officially started this morning at 9am. Mel Zeledon and Rob Ashe welcomed IBM’s business analytics partners. I had the honor to deliver a demo to the over 500 attendees. Not just an ordinary demo. No, that was something really cool. Something from our software labs. I don’t want to give too much away, but it has something to do with personal analytics. We will show more of that on Monday and Tuesday in the IBM Business Analytics keynotes.

    IoD2011
    Over 500 attendees at the keynote. Here is the demo.

    A WRONG STEP

    On a personal note: I had some ‘excitement’ this morning. Due to a misstep, I ended up spraining my ankle on a run this morning at 6am. I was about 1.5 miles away from the Mandalay Bay. Luckily, I was able to walk back. But it took a while. Pain set in and I had a hard time just getting dressed let alone put my shoe back on. Delivering a demo seemed completely out of question at that point. But my friend Andrew managed to get me down to Starbucks for some coffee and breakfast. That along with some pain-killers did the trick. It’s a lot better now but I might have to go to the hospital later. Wish me luck – please!

    TWEETING

    Hope to connect with you over the next few days. If you are tweeting about the event, make sure to use the hashtags #baforum and #iod11.

  • IoD 2011 – Here we come!

    Information on Demand 2011Greetings from Ottawa, Canada! I arrived here last Sunday to work with our team on getting ready for BA Forum and Information on Demand 2011. The conference will kick off with our annual partner summit on Saturday, October 22nd. It will be a great show. We have some cool stuff to show you and there will be lot’s of great sessions. I have the honor to deliver a few demos at the Business Analytics keynote sessions. That’s what we are working on this week.

    Before I head out to IoD 2011 and BAForum tomorrow morning, I wanted to share a few infos with you.

    KEYNOTES

    There are two Business Analytics Keynotes this year. Make sure not to miss them. Rob Ashe, Eric Yau and Depak Advani are scheduled to speak. Together with some colleagues, I will show some interesting demos. Of course, there will be a few surprises as well (sorry….can’t share the details…). The sessions are:

    • Monday, October 24th: 3:45pm – 5:00pm
    • Tuesday, October 25th: 11:15am – 12:15pm

    TRACKS AND SESSIONS

    There are lot’s of exciting sessions this year. Please look at the agenda for the details. Here are my recommendations:

    • The Business Analytics Experience workshop: This is a real-life business simulation. You get to run a fictitious company called Future Chips. But the good news is that you and your team will have a live Cognos system available to prepare and make decisions. It is a lot of fun and you can learn a lot about business strategy, business analytics and decision making. There are a bunch of these scheduled.
    • Social Media Track: There is an entire track dedicated to social media this year. You will get to know Cognos Consumer Insight etc. I will definitely try to see some of those sessions.
    • Behind the scenes: My friends and colleagues Andrew and Jason will run a very cool session on Tuesday: How to build the keynote demos. You will get to see how our team build the different demos that we will show during the main sessions. Sign up early. This session will be packed.

    SOCIAL MEDIA

    There are two social media lounges this year: Connect and Share. From what I understand, this will be a perfect place to hang out during breaks. There will be phone charging station, social media feeds and a lot more. The lounges will be a perfect area for a tweet-up or just to get some work done. I will definitely try to stop by during breaks.

    To stay current with the social media stream check out the Social Media Aggregator. It allows you to review relevant tweets and blogs for the entire conference. When you post something, please make sure to use the proper tags: #baforum or #iod11.

    That’s it for today! Hope to see you in Las Vegas at BAForum. Ping me via Twitter if you have any questions or want to meet for coffee. I will also try to blog every day.

    Cheers,

    Christoph

    P.S.: Last but not least, here are a few Tweeters I recommend following:

     

     

  • Vienna calling!

    Harald Hornacek
    A famous host: Harald Hornacek

    Greetings from Vienna: home of the schnitzel, yummy dumplings and lot’s of amazing history. But Vienna is also the hub of many successful companies. Today is the third European IBM Finance Forum 2011. We have had a great day so far. Lot’s of attendees from the Finance & IT departments of different Austrian businesses and government agencies. The agenda here is once again packed with Finance content. And as in all the other locations, we also have some great speakers. The event in Vienna is hosted by Harald Hornacek, chief editor of the popular business magazine Succeed. The magazine is distributed by Austrian Airlines and flyers love it for its fresh and meaningful content. Harald is quite famous in the Austrian and European business community for exactly that reason. The attendees have a great time listening to his insightful comments and questions. But let me back up for a quick second. There was another Finance Forum in Zurich last week.

    HIGHLIGHTS IN ZURICH

    The Dolder Hotel, Zurich

    The Finance Forum Switzerland was held at the famous and gorgeous Dolder Grand hotel. It is situated high above the city with breathtaking views left and right. Steve Morlidge, the author of ‘Future Ready‘ delivered a refreshing keynote about best practices in forecasting. He will be speaking at many different Finance Forums across Europe this year. We also had a customer speaker from a 500 year-old company (can you believe that?): Mr.Binzegger from Orell-Fuesseli talked about their innovative use of SPSS software to develop highly accurate credit ratings for companies. We also heard Mr Wirth from Nycomed talk about how to build an effective reporting and information strategy in a global environment. The Dolder Hotel staff also served up some amazing food and coffees during the break. Great event.

    VIENNA CALLING

    Back to the event here in Vienna. It’s been a bit of a mad rush for me in the background. I left home on Sunday morning to run two Rolling Forecast workshops with close to 40 CFOs from different companies in the Middle East on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning we found out that one of our customer speakers in Vienna ended up calling in sick and I jumped in with a different presentation last minute. We are about to start a panel discussion between different customers and experts.

    NEXT STOP BUCHAREST

    Hopefully you will get the opportunity to join one of the IBM Finance Forum events in the next few months. As you can see, we always have great speakers, great content and also lot’s of valuable discussions. Knowledge exchange and networking is a critical part of this. My next event is scheduled for May 4th in Bucharest. To see more photos from all the different events click HERE. See you soon!

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    Vienna: Vista 3 – The location fro Finance Forum
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    Finance Forum: Many great discussions
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    Collaborative BI: A real-life scenario