The Rapid Response Institute

Tag: cloud

  • Data Management for the Non-Technical Executive

    Data Management for the Non-Technical Executive

    “Per McKinsey research from June 2022, nearly 70 percent of the top economic performers, compared with just half of their peers, are using their own software to differentiate themselves from their competitors.”

    McKinsey went on to state that:

    • Digital products are driving the need to embed software across the board
    • Increasingly, more value is being derived in products and services from software
    • The growth of low cost Cloud and AI programming are putting unprecedented power into the hands of the global workforce

    The foundational key to global economies with tightly integrated software into products such as automobiles is DATA.  According to the research firm, IDC approximately 175 zettabytes of data will exist in 2025.  IDC went on to report that one zettabyte is ONE TRILLION GIGABYTES and that to download this amount of data would take 1.8 billion years.

    This amount of data and its criticality to the firm’s success are staggering statements.

    How are organizations going to be able to management this new economy in a meaningful way?  We can’t all be data scientists.

    Enter the Non-Technologist

    It is safe to say that data will be used by all aspects of the organization and its extended supply chain.  Finance, HR, Procurement, Tax, Sales & Marketing, Researchers, Medical Doctors, Facilities Management, etc. are staffed with experts in those fields not necessarily in IT or specifically Data Management.  How are these executives and their staffs be assured the data and software they are using ‘spit out’ the correct results?

    This is a daunting challenge today will only  get worse.  Moreover, the software sector is notorious for it poor quality documentation and many do not follow strict data management protocols.

    On the Horizon

    This blogger has been dealing with technical and later financial and business data of various qualify and sources since at least 1968.  Maybe I have not seen it all, but I have seen a lot including significantly poor data with significant gaps.  Management at all levels are not equipped to understand the underpinnings of the data they are using to make critical decisions.  Is the data Valid and Reliable (accurate and repeatable)?  Many are not even aware of the definition of those simple terms.  How can they trust the data provided?

    This author is pleased to announce that he recently entered into a contract with CRC Press to draft the book, “Navigating the Data Minefield: Management’s Guide to Better Decision-Making” to be published in 2025.

    This book will provide the non-IT software executive with tools and best practices to help her/him assure that the data provided by internal and external provider is of high quality.  It will provide a roadmap model that is straightforward and easy to understand.  It will also provide data and software experts with an understanding on the type of questions management may ask as well as project deliverables expectations.

    Stay tuned we will keep you informed as the exciting project develops.

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials herein.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    See our Economic Value Proposition Matrix® (EVPM) for additional information and a free version to build your own EVPM.

    The author’s credentials in this field are available on his LinkedIn page.  Moreover, Dr. Shemwell is a coauthor of the just published book, “Smart Manufacturing: Integrating Transformational Technologies for Competitiveness and Sustainability.”  His focus is on Operational Technologies.

    “People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” (Martin Luther King speech at Cornell College, 1962).  For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game.  You can contact this author as well.

    For more details regarding climate change models, check out Bjorn Lomborg ands his latest book, False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.

    Regarding the economics of Climate Change, check out our recent blog, Crippling Green.

    For those start-up firms addressing energy (including renewables) challenges, the author can put you in touch with Global Energy Mentors which provide no-cost mentoring services from energy experts.  If interested, check it out and give me a shout.

  • The 1950s Were So Good Because the 1930s & 40s Were So Very Bad

    The 1950s Were So Good Because the 1930s & 40s Were So Very Bad

    An early Baby Boomer, born in 1948 this post war pundit watched (pun intended) the beginning of the broadcast television age, featuring I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Ozzie and Harriet show, Leave It To Beaver, Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club, The Roy Rogers Show, Superman, Looney Tunes, Captain Kangaroo, The Howdy Doody Show and more.  A technological wonder, no less an important marvel than today’s Smart devices.

    The 1950s were a time of a non-existent (TV) American family that has never been reproduced.  My generation was raised watching June Cleaver cleaning her house all dressed up and wearing pearls.  I do not recall my mother (of that peer group) dressed as such doing daily chores.

    After the horrors of World War II and coming off the Great Depression era, America needed a pause.  Europe and Asia needed to rebuild themselves after their self imposed stupidity.  The so-called Happy Days established an Americana right up there with Norman Rockwell‘s vision.

    The 1950s set the stage for our 21st Century.  It established a ‘can do’ approach that persists to this day.  Many do not know that the transistor, the basis of all modern Cloud solutions was invented in the late 1940s and came into fruition during the 1950s.  Enabling the Apollo moonshot ten years later.

    On the down side, the Korean War draw and the Cold War with potential Nuclear Holocaust loomed large and set the stage for defeat in Vietnam.  This first American rout would not be our last.  Afghanistan!

    “Déjà Vu All Over Again”

    Apologies to Yogi Berra, it does feel sometimes like we are in a pre-1950s era.  Economic uncertainty, global political unrest, domestic turmoil, Covid-19, even pending European military hostilities, Asia etc. are all taking their toll on our collective psychic.  It all seems so similar to the late 1930s.

    The British Minister at the time, Neville Chamberlain, perceived as the appeaser did not live to the see the rout of 1940’s totalitarianism.  Had he, he might offer some thoughts about our current situation.  Winston Churchill most certainly would as would Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln and others.

    Economically, the world fell apart.  Since the safety nets of today that did not exist back then, the impact was massive.  However, our safety nets are under attack.  Inflation may destroy the middle and other classes.  Just like it did in the 1970s—Stagflation.  The worst of all possible economic worlds.

    Our parents and grandparents survived significant and in some cases life threatening problems.  Collectively, society emerged stronger and perhaps happier.  Paraphrasing from the TV series Mission Impossible, “Our mission, should we choose to accept it is to rise to the challenge and makes this world a better place for those who follow.”

    We also remember the 1950s as so good because the 60s and 70s were subsequently very bad.  This does not need to be the case with this social/economic cycle.  We are not doomed to repeat that history and can change our destiny.

    Seems that we are not really trying.  Have we become the nanny state?  Making our parents and grandparents so proud.

    And Yet

    The 1950s were by no means perfect.  Long simmering civil rights tensions began to manifest and certainly many did not enjoy the environment many of us fondly look back upon.  However, this period was a pause that would be rudely awakened, perhaps when JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963.  Or maybe earlier when Rosa Parks took her stand (or seat) on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 about the time Martin Luther King Jr. was coming into prominence.

    Throughout the 1960s a number of horrendous crimes would be committed against innocent children, activists and others–ultimately leading the assassination of Dr. King.  Moreover, the 1970s would start with Kent State and the Jackson State killings.

    Lessons Learned

    For many, the 1950s were happy days, for others not so much.  Guessing most readers were not alive during this period and perhaps even their parents were too young.

    History is the ultimate task master.  Dooming new generations to relive the past.  However, this need not be the case.  We can and should learn from the follies and successes of those who precede us.

    The 1950s were unique in many ways.  Many in my generation believe that to be true.  However, it seems we are reliving the 1930-1950s era and the outcome might be similar.

    Our challenge is to make sure that does not happen.  History need not repeat itself.  It is up to us.

    What Are Your Organization’s Future/Contingency Plans?

    For More Information

    Please note, RRI does not endorse or advocate the links to any third-party materials.  They are provided for education and entertainment only.

    For more information on Cross Cultural Engagement, check out our Cross Cultural Serious Game

    We presented, Should Cross Cultural Serious Games Be Included in Your Diversity Program: Best Practices and Lessons Learned at the Online Conference, New Diversity Summit 2020 the week of September 14, 2020.  Check Out this timely event and contact the organizer for access to the presentations!!

    For more on DEI Standards, see the newly released ISO-30415.

    You can contact this author as well.