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Lack of project management skills a major IT issue for many organisations
A recent survey conducted at META Group's METAmorphosis 2003 conferences indicated that 77% of respondents believe lack of project and programme management skills is a major IT issue. Moreover, preliminary results from another survey of project managers found that 16% of organisations have no project management capability, and 22% depend on ad hoc management by people who often have little training or experience. Only 2% of organisations require mandatory project management certification for their managers. [31 March 2004]
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Data Quality
Data quality is a strategic business issue that continues to evade the focus of most large enterprises. Emphasizing data quality improvement will yield significant benefits if the proper culture and methodology are in place.[26 January 2004]
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Learning the hard way
Many companies began building data warehouses 10 or more years ago. Through considerable trial and error, these veteran companies have established best practices for building, deploying, managing and growing data warehouses and business intelligence applications. Most of these organizations with "mature" data warehousing environments have learned the hard way - they've made similar mistakes and rebounded from them. They have much to teach us about the "dos" and "don'ts" of data warehousing. In this article by William McKnight Published in DM Review, June 2003, two of the lessons they have learnt are discussed. [17 July 2003]
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The hunt is on for the one true BI platform
The truly comprehensive business intelligence (BI) platform has yet to emerge that can fulfil up to 80% of users’ needs. The ultimate solution is on its way, but where will it come from and what will it look like? Charl Barnard, General Manager at Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID), may have the answers. [17 June 2003]
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Build and buy set to converge in the analytics market
As business intelligence and analytics continue to pervade business, many companies are confronted with the buy-build dilemma: to buy and deploy quickly with adequate fit, or build from scratch, slowly, with perfect fit - Charl Barnard, Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID). [17 June 2003]
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Collapsing the gap between structured and unstructured information
Information management is an enterprise-wide battle that affects management, staff, partners, suppliers, and customers. Typically, data resides in a vast array of disparate and dispersed data silos that are unrelated. To leverage information assets, says Paul van der Merwe, director of Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID), it is essential to bridge the divide between structured and unstructured information. [2 June 2003]
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Narrowcast set to redefine both business intelligence and mobile technology
Paul van der Merwe, director at Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID), outlines the case and requirement for proactive information delivery, and proposes a solution. [30 April 2003]
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BI templates no out-of-the-box panaceas
Business intelligence (BI) applications offer numerous benefits and business-enhancing deliverables to companies able to design, implement and customise their BI applications to the specific needs of their organisations. Unfortunately, configuring any BI application for maximum efficiency is a complex task requiring people with high skill levels and years of experience. [30 April 2003]
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Unlock competitive advantage with data mining
As the world we live in becomes faster, more complex and a little crazier every day, we humans have adapted to the demands placed on us by reinforcing our need for mass convenience and instant everything. [13 Feb 2003]
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How secure is your business intelligence system?
With data security becoming an ever-greater issue in corporations, IT managers and administrators spend substantial portions of their time planning and implementing security policies to ensure operational data and applications are secure, yet available to the people who need them. When it comes to business intelligence, however, security often plays a secondary role. [12 January 2003]
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Embrace BI process and avoid riding into the heavy guns
Business intelligence (BI) needs good processes to assist in the delivery of effective strategies. That's the opinion of Marius Ackerman, director at ABIC, a BI practice providing consulting services for Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID). [7 January 2003]
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Data mining can help keep the fraud tokoloshe at bay
The tokoloshe is a malevolent, dwarf-like creature that sneaks into innocent people's bedrooms at night to steal them away and wreak havoc. To avoid this horror, urban legend has it that if the would-be victim's bed is elevated - using paint cans, bricks or some other artifice - the little critter can't manage to get onto their bed so they can sleep safe and sound. [7 January 2003]
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Data mining key to prevention of cyber crime
e-Business is facing an epidemic unlike any other in its short history. According to a Computer Crime and Security Survey conducted by the Computer Security Institute in conjunction with the FBI, well over $100 million (R1 billion) is being lost to fraudulent electronic transactions a year. [12 December 2002]
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2003 will be seventh year of record growth for BI
Business intelligence has for some time been viewed as a relatively small player in the context of the IT market. This is set to change, with market analysts turning in positive report cards that show that business intelligence is the unquestioned star of the ball. [27 November 2002]
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Beyond the cube: a new vision for business intelligence
In the market, cubes are accepted as the standard multidimensional online analytical processing (MOLAP) norm, producing sub-second data delivery times.
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Youthful BI matures in line with corporate needs
The boom years of the nineties saw an unprecedented growth in corporate information technology (IT) spend as companies moved beyond the pure automation of business processes, expanding their internal and external data networks and exploring the possibilities of e-commerce through the Internet. [6 August 2002]
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Data Warehouses Provide Flexibility
In their increasing bid to seek improved services, reduce costs and shorten the lead times for processing claims, SA's medical scheme administrators are implementing value-added warehouse systems.[Business Day, 13 June 2002]
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Playing the Blues
Improvising at the keyboard is fun. But the blues is also associated with hard times. Terry Ragon, founder and CEO of InterSystems, really does play the blues if you can catch him at the right moment. Michael Saylor, founder and CEO of MicroStrategy, on the other hand, would rather have skipped the last couple of years. [7 June 2002]
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Mining your Data for Gold
Business intelligence solutions need to deliver fast and accurate answers to queries from large user communities whilst being able to handle vast amounts of information.
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Leveraging datamarts and relational databases - competitive advantage
Most corporates realise that competitive advantage can be gained through the effective analysis of their historical data, yet their understanding of the requirements of their particular data warehousing environments' needs is, perhaps, not as well developed. [30 July 2001]
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Data warehousing's golden rule: garbage in, garbage out
Companies who have successfully implemented data warehouses remain eerily quiet about their successes. The reasons however are obvious. [30 July 2001]
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Fighting fraud: Shooting at a moving target
As fraud investigations get more sophisticated, so do the organisations and individuals perpetrating fraud.
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Companies using Stone Age analytical software
The Internet has made many traditional analytical software systems obsolete, as they cannot handle large volumes of data.
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Data mining a core component of CRM strategies
Data mining has grown into an imperative for South African companies that want to understand, retain and grow their customer bases.
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Business Intelligence Tools Forge Company Partnerships
By using Web-enabled Business Intelligence (BI) tools e-businesses can enhance customer relationships with business partners and suppliers by providing reports from internal databases.
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Data Mining can Enhance Customer Satisfaction
Data mining has been projected to the forefront of making customer relationships profitable.
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Data Mining Enhanced by Human Reasoning
Using human thought processes can increase the usefulness of knowledge discovery in data (KDD) systems.
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Web Mining will Change the Face of e-Commerce
Companies that adopt a Web mining strategy to learn about their online customers will gain a competitive edge.
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Declining Economic Conditions Encourage Insurance Fraud
“Insurance fraud is costing the average South African household thousands of rands a year in the form of higher premiums and higher prices for goods and services.
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Pattern of Mobile Phone Usage can Foil Thieves
Fraud detection systems using artificial intelligence that monitors cell phone usage can be used to foil thieves.
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How Objects and the Data Warehouse can Coexist
Object technology and the data warehouse are butting heads. Mervyn Mooi, data warehousing consultant at Knowledge Integration Dynamics, outlines the problem and suggests solutions.
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Data Warehousing in the Healthcare Industry
Aubrey van Aswegen, MD of business intelligence company Knowledge Integration Dynamics, examines the role of data warehouse applications in the healthcare industry.
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