Find out how using best practice gets the most out of your data and revisit the effect that emerging technologies and business pressures have on the way BI capabilities are managed and delivered.
Understanding how (big) data can be used to achieve optimal business advantage will be addressed by Martha Bennett, principal analyst to CIOs at Forrester in the UK, during the ITWeb Business Intelligence Summit in March 2016.
As a result of groundbreaking research that she has been involved in over the years, Bennett believes the most important discovery has been the confirmation of the key best practices for getting the most out of data.
She notes "technology may have changed beyond recognition in some cases, but that because of the increased pace of business and tougher competitive environment, the principles of best practice are even more important than ever".
Where did it all begin?
Bennett studied languages and is fully bilingual in English and German. When asked about how she progressed from the languages to BI, analytics and big data, she commented that she "got involved in computing in the late eighties, as a multimedia designer and programmer, and it was just like learning another language".
"It is all about making yourself understood, only this time, by a computer and not another person," she continued. The move to exploring and introducing new and emerging technologies was a small step, with analytics being just one of them, during the commissioning of her first data mining pilot in 1994.
Data - Insight - Action
The outcome of Bennett's keynote address is to gain a deeper understanding of opportunities and challenges posed by (big) data today and in the future; key success factors and how you can use (big) data to achieve optimal business advantage and lastly, she will share best practices for maximising digital transformation success.
Bennett's focus is on ensuring that we get the right data into the hands of the right people, at the right time, and how to do so in the face of accelerating business change and a more demanding customer base.
The person behind the face
Bennett has visited South Africa only once before, yet her experience of the wine, food and wildlife was a good one. She describes it as being like "a kid in a candy store".
Bennett's advice to budding business intelligence professionals in South Africa is this, "don't start with the data, start with what you're aiming to achieve".
The fact that Bennett is an instant debugger is just one of her many hidden talents. If anything can possibly go wrong with a piece of software, it goes wrong when she is around. Some have gone so far as to suggest that she should hire herself out as a tester, and in so doing, save companies millions in time and money.
Bennett mentioned that realising that she could handle a group of unruly students whilst a university lecturer in her early professional life, was a career- defining moment. She also explains that being a German national has been difficult at times. She has learnt that diplomacy is an important element in life and although she strives for it, she doesn't believe that she has quite mastered the art.
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