The 5 best self-service BI tools compared

Business intelligence (BI) and analytics platforms are a staple of informatics for medium to large businesses. Visual-based data discovery has been a key component of BI since about 2004; this trend has moved the responsibility for analytics from IT to self-service by business analysts and managers, with support from data scientists and database administrators. The…

Loot Crate ERP implementation leads to innovation

It isn’t often that an ERP upgrade sparks innovation, but that is exactly what happened when fan box firm Loot Crate partnered with NetSuite. Together, the companies created an assortment planner, which helps identify the best products to include in each crate and gain real-time analytics into business operations. It’s now a core application for…

11 keys to a successful outsourcing relationship

When it comes ensuring a successful IT outsourcing outcome, the customer has more impact than you might think. In fact, recent research conducted by outsourcing consultancy ISG found that outsourcer and client are equally responsible for outsourcing results — regardless of whether the relationship succeeded or faltered. To read this article in full, please click…

What is Six Sigma? Streamlining quality management

What is Six Sigma? Six Sigma is a quality management methodology used to help businesses improve current processes, products or services by discovering and eliminating defects. The goal is to streamline quality control in manufacturing or business processes so there is little to no variance throughout. Six Sigma was trademarked by Motorola in 1993, but…

CIOs on the move and in the news

Movers & Shakers is where you can keep up with new CIO appointments and gain valuable insight into the job market and CIO hiring trends. As every company becomes a technology company, CEOs and corporate boards are seeking multi-dimensional CIOs with superior skills in technology, communications, business strategy and digital innovation. The role is more…

The pros and cons of outsourcing data analytics

Companies outsource all kinds of IT and business functions to service providers, including some that are quite strategic. Increasingly, that includes data analytics, one of the more competitively advantageous areas of the technology spectrum. With data analytics outsourcing, organizations hire service providers to perform analytics on the data they provide to the outsourcing company. Industry…