If you haven't read the 21 June 2004 issue of BusinessWeek, I recommend you grab a copy. It's the BusinessWeek annual issue on the top 100 InfoTech companies in the world, and the article I recommend is the lead for the InfoTech section entitled "Big Bang," by Stephen Baker and Heather Green.

The recent announcement by the US State Department that its latest report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003," contains so many inaccuracies that it is basically useless provides the perfect example of why organizations worldwide -- of all makes, industries, and sizes -- must have a well-defined data warehousing and analytics strategy in place.

The recent announcement by the US State Department that its latest report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003," contains so many inaccuracies that it is basically useless provides the perfect example of why organizations worldwide -- of all makes, industries, and sizes -- must have a well-defined data warehousing and analytics strategy in place.

Businesses need to be more agile, more flexible, more nimble, more responsive to change. That has been a mantra of agile managers and developers, but good stories help reinforce why it is so important. I recently talked with a client who related a fascinating story about one company's agility in a product release.

Over the past couple of months, I've been thinking about the "customer" problem once again. In various Advisors that I've written over the past couple of years, I have made a point to suggest that the idea (concept, term) customer is not a simple one and that there is much confusion out in the real world over what is meant by customer.

One of the steps that more and more companies are taking is to conduct "optimization audits." Great ... just what we need: another audit, another acronym (OA), and another question to answer when someone higher in the organization than you asks about how optimization audits work -- and if they're required by some government agency.

One of the steps that more and more companies are taking is to conduct "optimization audits." Great ... just what we need: another audit, another acronym (OA), and another question to answer when someone higher in the organization than you asks about how optimization audits work -- and if they're required by some government agency.

One of the steps that more and more companies are taking is to conduct "optimization audits." Great ... just what we need: another audit, another acronym (OA), and another question to answer when someone higher in the organization than you asks about how optimization audits work -- and if they're required by some government agency.

One of the steps that more and more companies are taking is to conduct "optimization audits." Great ... just what we need: another audit, another acronym (OA), and another question to answer when someone higher in the organization than you asks about how optimization audits work -- and if they're required by some government agency.

One of the steps that more and more companies are taking is to conduct "optimization audits." Great ... just what we need: another audit, another acronym (OA), and another question to answer when someone higher in the organization than you asks about how optimization audits work -- and if they're required by some government agency.

One of the steps that more and more companies are taking is to conduct "optimization audits." Great ... just what we need: another audit, another acronym (OA), and another question to answer when someone higher in the organization than you asks about how optimization audits work -- and if they're required by some government agency.