By
Ed Finegold
In a world where basically everything is oversold, analytics stands out. Every major technology player has a strategy – and in many cases a TV commercial or two – to tout its ability to unlock hidden insights from the torrents of data that flow through business organizations every day. It is true that data isn’t worth much without some kind of tangible analysis to make sense of it. It’s tough, however, to see many of the approaches being sold today as much more than re-branded data warehouses or worse, the latest consulting presentation. There are some promises, however, that may hold a shred of truth, and one of them seems to come from the Microsoft-Convergys partnership.
Biting Off Less than You Can Chew
The big problem in analytics isn’t usually the analysis engines that are designed to generate actionable results. The problem is the data from which these results are derived. Data is problematic in every way, from volume to quality, and from information model to context. Getting a load of data into
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It might be surprising to hear a bite-sized approach from Microsoft. |
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Where analytics should focus is on bite-sized results that deliver tactical advantages in increments and ultimately enable new strategies to emerge. A CSP doesn’t need to know everything about its customers tomorrow, it just needs to know a bit more than it did yesterday and share that information with everyone who needs it. This
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a format that an analytics engine can handle is often painstaking and therefore expensive. When businesses and their IT shops fall for big promises, they tend to over-scope data intensive projects and struggle or fail to deliver useful results in a timely manner. When they take big iron approaches to analytics, they can spend a lot of time and money to transform how data is managed and processed, and end up with something that few people know how to use and from which few business units can derive real benefits. In other words, for all of the work it can take to push data into an analytics platform, the platform may spit out reports in the end that aren’t useful to anyone.
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is a philosophy Microsoft has embraced. “We’re getting traction around analytics and business intelligence for the masses,” says Terry McGuigan, Managing Director – Telco Industry, for Microsoft. “We feel you can get a right-sized offer and be very adaptable and cost effective so the CSP organization can grow and modify as they go.”
It might be surprising to hear a bite-sized approach from Microsoft, the proverbial 800 pound gorilla. But even the giant silverbacks at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo eat their peanuts one at a time. Microsoft’s dedication
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