Tag Archives: Information Technology

Mugged in Data Hell – Perils of embracing the Faustian Side of IT – Part 1 – Remaster 2026

02 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by in Business Intelligence, Data Warehouse, Knowledge, Polemic

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Martyn ‘Rhysiart’ Jones

Spain

It’s Friday morning in Canary Wharf, and I have been asked to facilitate a meeting of a chapel of IT Dogma Suckers and Digital Snake-oil Victims, the self-help recovery chain for people who have fallen victim to the pernicious and debilitating effects of IT dogma and professional rip-offs. Continue reading →

Strategic Data Warehousing: A Smart Approach – REMASTER 2026

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Extract, Masterclass

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HERE WE ARE!

Extract taken from the draft work-in-progress provisionally titled Assess! Choose! Act! Data Warehousing and Strategy by Martyn Jones 

It’s a fantastically chic restaurant. It’s one of the best, if not the best in town. It’s Catalan or Basque, for sure. A group of twelve people sit at a round table. Silver service, starched white linen, spotless polished lead crystal glass, the works. There is even a minimalist arrangement of seasonal flowers. The owner of the exquisite restaurant walks across to the table, accompanied by one of her impeccably uniformed staff, who holds a notepad and pen in readiness; “Good afternoon, and, what would our esteemed ladies and gentlemen like today?” she asks.

Confused? If you haven’t seen this before then you should be. So just read on fellow traveller.

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Addressing Professionalism Issues in Data Warehousing

14 Sunday Sep 2014

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People are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the quality and quantity of many self-styled data warehousing and business intelligence professionals, organisations, and individuals. The perceived and increasing degradation of professionalism and integrity in my own areas of specialisation also finds echo in other aspects of Information and Communication Technology practice, but for now, that is outside the scope of this piece.

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A Brief History of Data Warehousing

14 Sunday Sep 2014

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There is a general consensus that Data Warehousing first appeared in the 1980s. However, the components of Data Warehousing were being developed and implemented as early as the 1960s. Many individuals are credited with discovering Data Warehousing. Wikipedia has a great chronological timeline that provides a lot of context for the evolution of data warehousing methodologies.

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Understanding IT Failures: A Path to Improvement – REMASTER 2026

14 Sunday Sep 2014

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My original intention was not to write a book on the decline and fall of so many projects, but rather to pen a short essay, a sort of hard-hitting criticism of the litany of IT failures. Of course, this is rarely enough; it wasn’t enough because it identified the issues without provoking debate, and it highlighted common issues without providing guideline suggestions, which meant that it appeared upon reflection to come across as too much like a hi-tech hit and run exercise, beating up on IT failures without actually offering tangible solutions.

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Transforming IT: A Guide for CEOs – REMASTER 2026

14 Sunday Sep 2014

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Far too few CEOs regularly think about IT on a habitual basis, and especially as something that is potentially integrated into everything their companies do and could do. This, however, is not at all surprising; there is a general lack of time for any CEO to be actively involved in what IT does, and they will generally have some degree of misunderstanding of both the historic roles and the relative successes and failures of IT.

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Transforming IT: Strategies for Business Success – REMASTER 2026

14 Sunday Sep 2014

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From banking to airlines, through communications businesses to pharmaceutical companies, the IT landscape is littered with failures of Homeric proportions, lost opportunities and profligate waste. Across the spectrum of commercial enterprise, the IT bottom line is inevitably familiar: in general, businesses expose themselves to unnecessary levels of disruption, and spend far too much time and money on IT projects, IT products and internal IT services that frankly suck.

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Aligning ICT with Business Strategy for Growth – REMASTER 2026

14 Sunday Sep 2014

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

As a CEO, CIO, or student of Business Management, you will understand this. Information and Communication Technology (ICT, also known as IT) has become essential. It is crucial. It is a pervasive element in the fabric of corporate life. What I mean by ICT encompasses three essential elements: Processes, Information and Technology. ICT should be seen as an important corporate asset. More importantly, Information, Processes, and their Management (IM) should be considered as such. They should be made to work as contemporary business enablers. They should bring about value-adding alignment in business. Thus, they should be managed as such. Although it does work that way, it typically doesn’t.

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