I spoke at a conference for the German company, Haniel earlier this year. The audience was largely German and engineers, so I toned down my normal style (a bit of energy, a bit of humour) to suit them, but the content extends to almost any industry and every function in the world right now.
This video is an extract that deals especially with what’s changing in the world of technology and IT and its impact on the world of work.
For more information on my presentations, click here.
Graeme,
I think the point about visual representation of data is a good one – especially when you are dealing with a huge volume. I used to study fluvial geomorphology (rivers). There were two ways you could analyse a river. First you could wire it up with lots of monitors and and try and attach numbers to all the parameters – volume of flow, turbidity, sinuosity of channel etc etc. This would leave you with vast quantities of charts and reports. Alternatively, you could just stand on the river bank and look at it. In terms of developing a practical understanding of what was happening in that river, especially if you wanted to do something practical – like try to cross it or take a kayak down it – standing on the bank and looking was infinitely more effective than analysing numbers.
In the social data space I think the value of simply watching the flow, rather than trying to crunch the flow, is underestimated. Big Data appears to hold out a tempting prospect in terms of understanding individual consumers – but the problem with data that is acquired in a social environment is that it requires social permission in order to use it. http://richardstacy.com/2012/07/18/creating-permission-to-get-personal-why-marketers-need-to-listen-to-the-spice-girls/