Boston Globe and Central Intelligence Agency to Speak on Data Architecture at DIG 2008

I am pleased to announce that the Boston Globe and Central Intelligence Agency will be speaking on the topic of Creating One Version of the Truth at DIG 2008. In addition to these two organizations, Dan Power, an industry guru, will be presenting on master data management.

Dennis Newman will present how the Boston Globe has established an Enterprise Information Management (EIM) initiative to address data integrity challenges to support an enhanced customer reporting platform. The Globe established a set of common definitions for customer-centric metrics to deliver sales and marketing analytics.

David Roberts will discuss the Central Intelligence Agencies approach to maximize value from enterprise data assets. The CIA is highly dependent on quality data and information to drive decisions. David will present the CIA’s enterprise data architecture and the value that the intelligence community has gained by having a robust data platform.

Dan Power from Hub Solutions design will present on the importance of establishing a master data management initiative and platform. Dan has over 20 years in enterprise technology with a specialization in master data management (MDM), customer data integration (CDI) and enterprise data architecture.

Reliant Energy, Kelly Blue Book and Infosys to Speak on Analytics at DIG 2008

I am pleased to announce that Reliant Energy, Kelly Blue Book and Infosys will be speaking on the topic of Insights from Advanced Analytics at DIG 2008. Each organization will be presenting case studies on how they leverage analytics to drive better decisions.

Christi Megow and Jason Stults from Reliant Energy will discuss how they are using performance models to drive the operations planning process. Reliant Energy provides electricity and energy services to retail and wholesale customers in the United States. Reliant Energy uses driver trees, dashboards and scorecards to define and communicate corporate strategy to stakeholders and help drive the planning, forecasting, reporting and analysis process for decision-making.

Bruce Hoffman will discuss how Kelly Blue Book uses data gathered from their website to better predict market trends and vehicle pricing. KBB.com has over 12 million site visits per month that are captured, cleansed and consolidated for analysis. Using the clickstream data, KBB is able to provide better analytics both internally and externally to their OEM clients.

Our final presenter in the analytics theme is Romil Bahl from Infosys. In this session, Mr. Bahl will describe how Infosys aligns strategic priorities and objectives with performance measures. Using analytic techniques, Infosys is able to model in real-time expected financial performance for strategic initiatives. Infosys integrates these analytics across industry and horizontal business units to enhance ‘One Infy’ experience and deepen Infosys transformational capabilities.

R. Todd Stephens, Bo Cowgill and Euan Semple to Speak on Enterprise 2.0 at DIG 2008

I am pleased to announce that R. Todd Stephens, Bo Cowgill and Euan Semple will all be speaking on the topic of Enterprise 2.0 at DIG 2008. Each will be presenting case studies from organizations where they have adopted E2.0 for competitive advantage.

R. Todd Stephens, who is a Senior Technical Architect at AT&T, will discuss AT&T's success with adopting collaborative and social technology. R. Todd's case example will present a 3-tiered program to adopt social platforms and how AT&T has shown business value as adoption grows within the organization. R. Todd has also been actively participating on the Talk DIG blog, which we like to see!

Bo Cowgill, an Economist at Google, will be speaking about Google's use of internal prediction markets. Google has the largest corporate implementation of prediction markets, which they utilize to capture the "wisdom of crowds". If you aren't familiar with the topic of mass collaboration, James Surowiecki wrote the book Wisdom of Crowds, which makes the case that in the proper setting, large groups of people can make better decisions than individual experts. Google is using markets internally to identify winning project ideas based on how employees trade options on the success or failure of a project.

In our final case study Euan Semple, a social computing advisor, will discuss how the BBC has established in an internal social network to improve efficiency and increase innovation. Euan will discuss what tools the BBC leverages to improve collaboration and communication that impacts the corporate culture, individual behaviors and provide the ability to get things done! The BBC has leveraged this platform to even extend the conversation beyond the four walls of the organization and make everyone a marketer for the BBC. Euan also blogs on the topic of social networks and technology at the aptly named "The Obvious?".

We are excited to have R. Todd, Bo and Euan speak about their experiences in knowledge in the area of E2.0.

Jeffrey Ma to Speak at DIG 2008

I am excited to announce that Jeffrey Ma will be a key note speaker at DIG 2008. If you are not familiar with Jeffrey, he is the main character in the best selling book Bringing Down the House and co-founder of the fantasy sports site Protrade.com. The book has been produced into a major motion picture, 21, which will be released on March 28th. Below is the movie trailer.

Jeffrey's background is in number crunching, which is a required skill at the blackjack tables. Jeffrey will discuss how to use data driven analysis to make smarter business decisions. The Protrade fantasy sports site leverages Jeffrey's proprietary analysis tools and metrics to predict performance. His approach is to help the audience to move away from using their "gut" to make decisions and drive decisions based on quantifiable data. We are looking foward to Jeffrey's key note and expect the venue in Las Vegas to fit the bill.

Jevon MacDonald and Thomas Vander Wal to lead Enterprise 2.0 Clinic at DIG

I am pleased to announce that Jevon MacDonald and Thomas Vander Wal will be leading a pre-conference clinic session on Enterprise 2.0 at DIG 2008. Jevon and Thomas bring both depth and practical knowledge in the area of enterprise social software.

"Enterprise 2.0 Jumpstart", as Jevon and Thomas has aptly named the clinic, will focus on the effect of Web 2.0 technologies inside today's established organization. They will introduce core E2.0 concepts, practical examples and first steps associated when implementing Enterprise 2.0 software inside your organization. The session is scheduled to run between 3 to 4 hours, which should provide attendees enough time to dig deep into E2.0 content with Jevon and Thomas.

I would also recommend taking a look at Jevon's FastForward blog. I am a follower and have it listed in my personal blog roll.

Charles Fishman from Fast Company to kick off DIG

I am pleased to announce that Charles Fishman, Fast Company magazine writer and best selling author of "The Wal-mart Effect", will be a key note speaker at DIG 2008 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Charles will open the conference on day 1 and discuss what makes an organization a "Fast Company".

Mr. Fishman has written many investigative articles and publications on organizations ranging from NASA to Wal*mart. In his best selling book "The Wal-mart Effect", Charles uncovers the enormity of Wal-mart and the impact that it has on consumers, towns and cities where they open a store, and the businesses that manufacture the products that stock the shelves. Some interesting statistics from the book on the shear size of Wal-mart and the impact it has on the economy:

• $23,212 per minute: profits at Wal-mart, every minute of every day
• 127 million: number of Americans who shop at Wal-mart each week
• 500: typical number of jobs created by a new Wal-mart Supercenter
• 450: typical number of retail-related jobs eliminated in a community 5 years after a new Wal-mart opens a Supercenter

Charles has been recognized numerous times for his writing, including a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business journalism and best magazine story of 2004 from the New York Press Club. Charles received a BA from Harvard University and has written for the Washington Post, editor for Orlando Sentinel Sunday magazine, and assistant managing editor at the News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Welcome Charles and we look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas.

Andrew McAfee to be a key note speaker at DIG 2008

Palladium and the DIG conference team is excited to announce that Andrew McAfee will be a key note speaker at DIG 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Andrew will kick-off our Enterprise 2.0 theme on day 2 and set the stage on how the concepts associated with Web 2.0 are starting to be integrated into the operations of a business.

Andrew is a faculty member at Harvard Business School in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. One of Andrew's research focus areas is on how Web 2.0 technologies can be leveraged inside an enterprise. Andrew has spoken at numerous industry events on a broad range of the IT topic areas. One of the more interesting events was a debate that Andrew had with Tom Davenport on the impact of Web 2.0 technologies inside a business.

Andrew was the first faculty blogger at Harvard Business School and we hope to engage with Andrew in the blogosphere between now and the conference.



Welcome to DIG Andrew!