Is data slowing down “the business”?

I just spotted an interesting article in Computer Weekly “High touch is just as important as high tech“.

The article paints an objective picture about how human interactions have been changed by technology.
From a data perspective there is an interesting quote:
“…managing the increase in data was slowing down business processes and the resulting cumbersome and inefficient internal systems were the main barrier to business success in 2011″
I’m not sure I agree, does this match what you are experiencing?

High touch is just as important as high tech

“Information is the best disinfectant”

I went to an excellent talk recently by well known English politician Tony Benn as part of the Lichfield Literature Festival. One quotation he provided was the inspiration and title for this blog post

“Information is the best disinfectant”.

The statement on its own may not make sense, but was used in the context of explaining how the publication of information on the abuse of the parliamentary expenses system by MPs both highlighted the problem and created the solution. Once MPs realised that any abuses would be made public, and that their viability as an elected politician may be compromised, many started to voluntarily repay expenses that may have been inappropriately claimed.

For those not familiar with the story, the image above is a “duck house” claimed on parliamentary expenses by Sir Peter Viggers. Not surprisingly, he did not stand in the 2010 election!

So what does all this have to do with data quality?

All of our data is equal, some is more equal than others

To paraphrase George Orwell’s quotation from the novel ‘1984’ “All of our data is equal, some is more equal than others”. If all data is treated equally, how can we prioritise our efforts?

Criticality is a method used in many situations to identify things that are of more importance to an organisation and may require more/different treatment. Examples of where criticality is used include managing physical assets, operating chemical or process plant and transport network planning.

How does the concept of criticality apply to data?

Secrets of a good presentation (Part 3 of 3)

This is the third and final part of a three part blog post providing guidance on how to create and deliver an effective presentation. Part 1 provided guidance on how to develop your content. Part 2 gave tips on how to deliver your presentation.

This final part in the series considers how to handle questions and how to prepare for what might go wrong.

Secrets of a good presentation (Part 2 of 3)

This is the second part of a three part blog post providing guidance on how to deliver a good presentation. Part 1 explained how to develop your content. This part focuses on the actual delivery of the presentation.