Enterprise Intelligence: Putting the Pieces
Together Daniel Tunkelang dtunkelang@gmail.com

Consumer technology is smart and
getting smarter.

While most enterprise technology remains
dumb.

Why is it so hard
to deliver enterprise intelligence? Let’s talk about the challenges.

Challenge 1: Enterprise data lives
in silos.

Intelligence comes from joining across
data sets. Data connectivity is essential for unlocking value.

Challenge 2:
Weak signals.

Compared to the web, no
labels or behavioral data. Consumer technology takes these signals for granted.

Challenge 3:
Lack of incentives.

Everyone talks the talk about
data reuse and knowledge sharing, but most organizations don’t reward it.

But it’s not all gloom
and doom. Let’s talk about signs of life for enterprise intelligence.

Sign of life 1: Open
source.

Open source not only provides
flexibility to tinker, but also dramatically reduces barriers to adoption.

Open source also encourages open
standards. Interoperability breaks down silos between applications.

Sign of life 2: Cloud
computing.

Cloud computing has dramatically reduced
the entry cost for applications requiring large storage or compute resources.

Not just about reduced cost
of hardware and administration. Cloud platforms provide most of your stack out of the box.

Sign of life 3: Consumerization
of the enterprise.

People increasingly use the same
software for both consumer and enterprise applications.

Consumer technology not only raises
UI expectations, but also makes people expect greater interoperability.

These signs of life support
emerging opportunities to deliver enterprise intelligence—by putting the pieces together.

Opportunity 1: Combine public and
enterprise data.

So much of the world’s
data is just an API call away. Leverage it!

External data tends to be
wide and shallow. Yours is narrow and deep. Combine them!

Opportunity 2: Invest in data
standardization.

There’s only so much you
can do with strings and other unstructured data. Standardization unlocks value.

At least strive for internal
consistency. Even better, use standards with broad support.

Opportunity 3:
Create better incentives.

Everyone wants access to everyone
else’s data. But no one wants to invest effort. Tragedy of commons.

People need to be rewarded
for creating and improving data assets than can be leveraged across organization.

To summarize:

Open source, cloud computing, and
consumerization are lowering barriers and raising expectations.

We need to break down
silos, strengthen signals, and create better incentives to standardize and share data.

Enterprise intelligence is what we
achieve when we put the pieces together.

Thank you!
dtunkelang@gmail.com