Big Data: A Mysterious Giant IT Buzzword

Post written by Niaz T., Senior Solution Architect/SAP BW Consultant at Ideaca. Read more about SAP HANA on her blog: Discover In-memory Technology.

In the world of technology there are a hundred definitions for “Big Data.” It seems confusing to come up with a single definition when there is a lack of standard definition. Like many other terms in technology, Big Data has evolved and matured and so has its definition. Depending on who we ask and what industry/business field they’re in, we will get different definitions. Timo Elliott summarized some of the more popular definitions of Big Data in “7 Definitions of Big Data You Should Know About.”

You may be familiar with three “V’s” or the classic 3V model. However, this original definition does not fully describe the benefits of Big Data. Recently, it has been suggested to add 2 more V’s to the list such as Value and Verification or Veracity which are resulted from “Data Management Practices.” As a BI expert who is been involved in Big Data, my approach is to have a practical definition for my clients by emphasizing the main characteristics of data and purpose of Big Data related to each specific area. I like Gartner’s concise definition. Gartner defined Volume, Velocity and Variety characteristics of information assets as not 3 parts but one part of Big Data definition.

Big data is high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information asset that demands cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making. (Gartner’s definition of big data)

The second part of the definition addresses the challenges we face to take the best of infrastructure and technology capabilities. Usually these types of solutions are expensive and clients expect to have cost effective and appropriate solution to answer their requirement. In my opinion this covers the other V which is related to how we implement Data Management Practices in Big Data Architecture Framework and its Lifecycle Model.

The third part covers the most important part and ultimate goal which is Value. Business value is in the insight to their data and to react to this insight to make better decisions. To have a right vision, it’s important to understand, identify and formulate business problems and objectives knowing practical Big Data solutions are feasible but not easy. So when I define Big Data for my clients, I use Gartner’s definition and explain the journey we need to take together to achieve their goal.

In any Big Data project, I start with BDAF or Big Data Architecture Framework which consists of Data Models, Data Lifecycle, Infrastructure, Analytic tools, Application, Management Operation and Security. One of the key components is having high performance computing storage. Since Big Data technologies are evolving and there more options to be considered, I’m focusing on SAP HANA capabilities which enable us to design practical and more cost effective solutions. HANA could be one part of overall Big Data Architecture Framework but it’s the most essential part. The beauty behind SAP HANA is that it is not just a powerhouse Database but it is a development platform to provide real time platform for both analytics and the transactional systems. It enables us to move beyond traditional data warehousing and spending significant time on data extraction and loading. In addition we’re able to take advantage of hybrid processing to design more advance modeling. Another big advantage of HANA is the capability of integrate it with SAP and non-SAP tools.

So, why am I so excited about it? Looking around I see tons of opportunities and brilliant ideas which could get off the ground with some funding. So far, HANA has been more successful in large enterprises with big budgets and larger IT staff. However I’m also interested to encourage medium size enterprises to see the potential of HANA to provide a solution for their problems. The majority of businesses don’t spend their budget to develop a solution. They are eager to pay to solve a particular problem. Now, our challenge as SAP consultants is to help businesses see this potential and how HANA can address their challenges. The good news is SAP supports by providing test environment and development licenses for promising startups.

Got your attention? Well, just to give you a glimpse, take a look at some of the success stories. In addition there are many many other cases if we look around. For instance, these days many applications capture Geo-location data like trucking company, transportation, etc. it means capturing data every 10 seconds or so from every section, every piece of equipment, every location. This could add up to a Petabyte of data! This is an excellent way to bring insight into data and drive intelligence out of it and have it circulated back to scheduling and movement processes. Another example could be companies needing to mine information from social media regarding to their products and connecting this intelligence back to their back end processes to increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

So, do you have any Big Data Challenge? With some funding, we’re able to provide cost effective and practical solution for your challenge to add value to your business.

The importance of a shared vision

Post written by Jason Z., Project Manager at Ideaca. Read more about project management on his blog: Unnatural Leadership.

In a post from my series “Advice for Junior PMs," I touched on the concept of saying what you mean when working with your project team. The same concept should be applied when communicating outside of your project team.

There’s a fairly common graphic that gets passed around IT departments, and it’s somewhat self-deprecating. It shows that project teams tend to not understand what the customer needs – which is endemic of lacking a shared vision.

This graphic makes me cringe every time I see it.

As we all know, a project is a temporary group activity designed to produce a unique product, service or result. However, more often than not, project teams take an “I know best” view of the world when designing solutions for their customer.

A strong project manager will not only sit with their customer to understand what is required, but will bring the whole project team along to understand as well. We all have our own perceptions and filters, and as a result may play broken telephone.

At this point, you may be asking if a shared vision is different from the project scope statement. It is, in that the shared vision is what the customer will see as the product, service, or result of the project, whereas the project scope is everything that will be delivered (including training, documentation, organizational change management).

To create a shared vision of what the project will produce (be it a unique product, service, or result):

1. Bring everyone to the table to ensure open communication

1. Define what is to be produced in simple language – do not say “we are going to produce a tree swing,” and leave it there, say “we are going to produce a tree swing, which is comprised of a tire hanging from a sturdy branch of a large oak tree by a piece of polyester rope.”

1. Involve the customer in design meetings. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) should definitely lead, but should be eliciting feedback so that the customer’s requirements are re-confirmed by the team.

1. Revisit the shared vision often. Ask your customer at difference acceptance testing points if what is being developed meets the shared vision.

Most importantly, communicate the shared vision often. Use it as the first line in your status reports, use it as part of your elevator speech, and when people ask you what you are working on, relay your project’s shared vision.

What are your tips for creating a shared vision? What have you seen work well? Do you have any stories of spectacular failures? Share your tips and stories below!

Are you losing count of your employee’s billable hours?

Information taken from Ideaca’s “Revenue Leakage in Professional Services: How to Quash the Silent Killer of Profitability” whitepaper.

Professional services organizations (PSO’s) of all sizes and from all industries struggle to track service hours in a consistent and accurate way. Many organizations use tracking protocols that are inefficient and create challenges for accounting and finance departments. Often these protocols are spreadsheet based and not standardized. As a result, excessive time is spent on consolidation and organization, with hardly any time spent on strategy and analysis.

In many cases, organizations don’t realize where their billable hours are going and that small factors can make a big difference in accurate reporting. The following are examples of some of the small factors that lead to inaccurate time reporting:

• End of month time tracking: Many people have trouble accurately recalling the hours they worked at the start of the month by the time they submit their hours at the end of the month. Not everyone keeps personal records of their hours and those who don’t rely on memory and guesses.
• Time entry is late: When time entry is delayed because of vacation, technical difficulties or other causes, it is not always clear when submission deadlines are postponed to. As a result, employees may neglect to submit their time because they are unaware how and when they should.
• No standardization: Without clearly defined guidelines for tracking time, there may be confusion over what is and is not considered to be billable. Defining ambiguous reporting areas like travel time and administrative work leads to accurate and consistent reporting across the organization.
• Inaccurate manual processes: As with all manual processes, errors can happen unknowingly. Employees may rush through their time sheet or make costly but minor mistakes when reporting.

Many real-time, accessible and centralized time entry systems are available to empower organizations. Not only do they streamline and increase efficiency of accounting and finance departments, but they benefit employees as well. With accurate information about their hours, employees gain insight into how they directly affect the bottom line and they gain access to metrics about their project or personal hours.

View the full “Revenue Leakage in Professional Services: How to Quash the Silent Killer of Profitability” whitepaper here.

The 2012 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark Report

Last week, Service Performance Insight released The 2012 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark. SPI puts out this report every year to help Professional Service Organizations compare their yearly results to their "benchmark of peers". There was significant growth in the last year, and the results show that the technology professional service industry is booming!

SPI mentions that some of the year's highlights include:

Revenue growth: the leading indicators for growth — annual revenue growth, headcount increases, size of the deal pipeline and percentage of revenue in backlog — were all up in 2011, almost recovering to the pre-recessions highs seen in 2007. Year-over-year revenue growth (13.7%) has consistently outpaced year-over-year headcount growth (10.1%) which means PSO’s are continuing to ratchet up productivity.

Salaries are up: After three years of layoffs, headcount and salary freezes, base salaries and incentive compensation increased across all major job categories. The average base salary for seven job titles (senior manager, project manager, business consultant, technical consultant, solution architect, account manager and training specialist) rose 4.8% in 2011 on top of an 11% rise the year before.

Productivity continues to improve: The percentage of billable staff compared to total staff has risen every year from 67% in 2007 to 73% in 2011. At the same time average billable utilization across all global geographies and verticals has increased to 70% in 2011 up from 65% in 2008

One of our Partner's Gord Smith, speaks in the article about how Ideaca benefits from using the PS Maturity Benchmark report:

“We have used the PS Maturity Benchmark for many years to measure key aspects of our firm and to gauge the progress we have made. We have made some fundamental changes based on the benchmark to improve our firm’s overall results. I have not been able to find data as comprehensive from any other source.”

Gord Smith
Partner

Have a look at the press release featured on Business Wire and check out

www.spiresearch.com for more details on The 2012 Professional Services Maturity™ Benchmark Report.

 

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