Computers are good at many things, but let’s focus on just two attributes — sorting and searching — and their relationship to data warehouses and data lakes. What I like about these two attributes is their relatability, in that we sort and search for things every day. We might sort books in our bookshelf in alphabetical order. Or if we…
Bias is something that shapes and colors every aspect of our life. We don’t like to think we are biased, because we would rather be known for our fact-based decision-making and well-informed perspectives. Bias is alive and well in the world of data, too. And though I have read others’ thoughts on this topic, I feel compelled to share mine,…
Does your organization have the information it needs to make sound, real-time decisions? Is there confidence in your firm’s business reporting? Can you track KPIs? Are you in compliance with global and industry-specific laws related to data? Effective, modern data governance helps you answer these questions. High-quality, governed data is essential to timely and effective decision-making. It’s critical for ensuring…
On December 6, Kelle O’Neal and John Ladley were co-presenters on DATAVERSITY’s Trends and Predictions for 2019 webinar. They were joined by Shannon Kempe from DATAVERSITY and data management professionals who were interested in hearing Kelle and John reflect on the past year and how 2018’s key industry learnings could inform and shape 2019. If you’d like to listen to…
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote at the Data Governance Winter Conference. I’ve been a data governance trainer, practitioner and enthusiast for well over a decade. Yet I can’t recall a period of time that is as exciting, as momentous, and as dynamic as the here and now. Today. Living in a data-never-sleeps reality where…
Last month, First San Francisco Partners’ Founder and CEO Kelle O’Neal announced that Anthony Algmin was joining the firm to lead our Alation practice, after being an FSFP consultant for several months. (Read our news release here.) Anthony’s new role at FSFP will be to develop our Alation partnership. He will also support the development of our evolving Alation consulting…
Earlier this month, Kelle O’Neal and John Ladley took a fresh look at the topic of knowledge management, covering its history and how it applies today to Big Data and analytics in a Data Insights & Analytics webinar, a partnership with DATAVERSITY. What follows is a brief recap of the Big Data as a Gateway to Knowledge Management webinar. To…
The shift toward digital business is being fueled by data-driven organizations that are using a broad spectrum of analytical capabilities to inform decision-making. While this work can be exciting and game-changing, there’s an overarching need for a thoughtful strategy and effective framework to govern analytics and enable the data citizen through self-service. Not enough firms are focused on this. We’ve…
Data governance became mainstream around 2005 and has now become institutionalized in many organizations. Since it first became an enterprise-level activity, it has evolved to address emerging trends and concerns. With today’s big-data-fast reality, we are now at a point where a new generation of this practice is emerging: agile (or bottom-up) data governance. In its initial phase, data governance…
Our October 4 webinar with DATAVERSITY, Lessons Learned from Building a Data Supply Chain, featured Kelle O’Neal and special guest George Yuhasz, the US Director of Business Intelligence and Data Services for Keystone Foods, a global food services company with headquarters in West Chester, PA. George has more than 16 years of experience leading enterprise data initiatives in financial services,…
Does your data architecture practice work? Has it had an impact on your organization? How do you know? Some people may believe data architecture is “just good hygiene” and that it “has to be done” because it is too conceptual for the impact to be measured. I disagree. It can and should be measured. Data architecture as a practice is…
We started our blog back in April 2016, and today we’re celebrating our 100th article with a look back on the top five most popular ones, based on the highest number of views, reader comments and shares on social media. If you’re new to our blog, we cover a variety of topics (to date, more than 20) from our data…
Kelle O’Neal kicked off our September webinar, Advanced Databases and Knowledge Management, by saying she was looking forward to covering this topic and how it ties core, almost “low-level technology” to the knowledge management concept — “one that people have been working on for decades now and are still innovating around.” Kelle’s co-presenter was FSFP consultant John Ladley, an information…
As data drives more and more of the modern economy, data governance and data management are racing to keep up with an ever-expanding range of requirements, constraints and opportunities. It is a little like a data version of the Cambrian Explosion, where data-centricity is giving rise to a rich variety of practices, each distinct and unique in its own way….