Sales forecasting is a surprisingly risky thing, which is ironic since its whole purpose is to identify risk areas in time to apply corrective action. While everyone agrees that an accurate forecast would be a good thing, there are a surprising number of incentives – financial and political – to forecast with too much optimism.…
In mid-September of this year, Linux creator Linus Torvalds announced he was taking time off from his day-to-day job leading Linux kernel development efforts to, as he put it, “get some assistance on how to understand people’s emotions and respond appropriately.” Torvalds is notoriously abrasive on LKML, the email list that is, in essence, the…
Certifications and skills can help boost your salary, set you apart from the competition and help you land promotions in your current role. A survey from Global Knowledge found that 83 percent of IT professionals in the U.S. and Canada hold an IT certification — and in the U.S. the average salary for a certified…
Need help picking out the right wine? If you’re shopping at a BevMo store in Silicon Valley, just ask the robot. The box-like digital clerk will greet you at the door, escort you to the correct aisle, and let you know what’s on sale. In Long Island, New York, meanwhile, Alexa and the Google Assistant…
Supply chain management (SCM) is a critical focus for companies that sell products, services, hardware and software. The supply chain includes everything involved in the flow of goods from a business to its customers, clients or to other businesses. It’s not something that can be set up and left alone — your supply chain needs…
As companies increasingly turn to AI and machine learning, a clearer picture of what it takes to succeed with real-world AI is beginning to take shape. Beyond the small circle of tech giants and early adopters, a different set of skills and approaches is emerging as must-haves for enterprise AI teams. Not every organization can…
The promise of agile development maps well to today’s disruptive, fast-moving business environments. But measuring the success of your agile efforts can be tricky, especially when it comes to ascertaining alignment with business objectives. How do you gauge success or failure? Are you even measuring the correct things? Any usable metric needs to answer three…
All around us, companies are using technology to transform their operations, respond more quickly to customer demands, and enable new business models. At least, that’s what they’re saying. The reality, though, is often less rosy. According to 451 Research, more than half of all retail, financial services, and healthcare organizations have launched a formal digital…
If you ever parked at a casino on the Las Vegas strip for a popular event, then you know the definition of pain. Even if you score a prime spot by arriving early enough, getting out quickly isn’t happening unless you leave early. Caesars Entertainment, which operates Caesars Palace, Harrah’s and several other casino and…
While virtual reality (VR) has obvious consumer appeal, augmented reality (AR) was invented for industrial manufacturing, and both are increasingly being seen as viable solutions for business needs. This year, IDC estimates that more than 60 percent of the nearly $18 billion that being spent on AR and VR in 2018 will be commercial projects,…