Tuesday, October 02, 2018
Friday, June 17, 2011
A SolidQ stops others getting ahead of you
Well it has been some time since I blogged. Other things were on my mind that are much more important than blogging. However, they have been resolved, in one way or another, so I am back ;-)
For this first entry, on return, I would like to share some links to a company which is very close to my heart. The company is called SolidQ and it consists of some of the most amazing people I have ever come accross.
You can meet them all at their SolidQ Blog site at : http://blogs.solidq.com. I think I am one of the slowest contributors there, for the same reasons that this blog has been unmanned for a while, but any of the others are full of useful nuggets of information and knowledge shared. You may be familiar with the more heroic contributors to their bloggs and to the community as a whole. People like Itzik Ben-Gan, Davide Mauri just to mention two!
In case you want to know more about the company you can take a look at the SolidQ Home page at: http://www.solidq.com/gl-en
Last, but not least, you can get access to some of the best courses in the world at: http://www.solidq.com/squ. These are not just listings that are filled by guest instructors and seats for the taking of bums. They are real courses with real clients and company dedicated mentors, that occur all around the world at SolidQ sites.
You can also choose any of the courses, or we can help create custom courses with and for you on demand, to be delivered at a location of your choice.
For this first entry, on return, I would like to share some links to a company which is very close to my heart. The company is called SolidQ and it consists of some of the most amazing people I have ever come accross.
You can meet them all at their SolidQ Blog site at : http://blogs.solidq.com. I think I am one of the slowest contributors there, for the same reasons that this blog has been unmanned for a while, but any of the others are full of useful nuggets of information and knowledge shared. You may be familiar with the more heroic contributors to their bloggs and to the community as a whole. People like Itzik Ben-Gan, Davide Mauri just to mention two!
In case you want to know more about the company you can take a look at the SolidQ Home page at: http://www.solidq.com/gl-en
Last, but not least, you can get access to some of the best courses in the world at: http://www.solidq.com/squ. These are not just listings that are filled by guest instructors and seats for the taking of bums. They are real courses with real clients and company dedicated mentors, that occur all around the world at SolidQ sites.
You can also choose any of the courses, or we can help create custom courses with and for you on demand, to be delivered at a location of your choice.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Three cheers for the Automobile Associations use of technology to help the customer
I cannot commend the Automobile Association (www.THEAA.com) enough.
Eventually, out of sheer exhaustion, one gets used to being fobbed off by people who don't know what they are talking about sitting in front of computers and thinking about home time when they are talking to you. For example I tried to get some sense out of a representative of one of the big banks, not First Direct, over the phone. It would have been more fun to pull my own teeth out with a pair of pliers!
You also wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork that some organisations computer systems generate and are forced to eat again at a later time, even when they are full of the same. Often they use the customer as the transfer mechanism between their systems. I think it is some strange way of introducing contingency into badly designed systems and the desire to share this with the customer.
However, back to the good news, did you know that if you are covered by the full breakdown service with the AA they will come out, be pleasant, do what needs doing and then whether you are aware or not, check your details to see if you are covered for a reduction for the parts they store in their recovery vehicle, that can bring your vehicle back to life.
As an example - Having had the car rebooted by the AA representative. I could have gone to Halfords and paid in the region of a hundred pounds for a new battery. I could have gone to Mercedes and probably paid considerably more for their service to do the same. Instead, the price was reduced to a mere £25 because we are covered for full recovery with the AA. What made the experience really special is that I had no idea that I was paying for full recovery, it is just one of the features of the payment I made sometime in the past. The availability of the feature of the product that I had purchased was confirmed by the company representative, without prompt. He used a phone, an augmented GPS system and a computer to pull all the information together without need for any paper, or me, in the process.
If the THEAA made cars I would go out and buy one tomorrow! I cannot think of many car companies that I would trust for the same kind of service that THEAA provides!
Eventually, out of sheer exhaustion, one gets used to being fobbed off by people who don't know what they are talking about sitting in front of computers and thinking about home time when they are talking to you. For example I tried to get some sense out of a representative of one of the big banks, not First Direct, over the phone. It would have been more fun to pull my own teeth out with a pair of pliers!
You also wouldn't believe the amount of paperwork that some organisations computer systems generate and are forced to eat again at a later time, even when they are full of the same. Often they use the customer as the transfer mechanism between their systems. I think it is some strange way of introducing contingency into badly designed systems and the desire to share this with the customer.
However, back to the good news, did you know that if you are covered by the full breakdown service with the AA they will come out, be pleasant, do what needs doing and then whether you are aware or not, check your details to see if you are covered for a reduction for the parts they store in their recovery vehicle, that can bring your vehicle back to life.
As an example - Having had the car rebooted by the AA representative. I could have gone to Halfords and paid in the region of a hundred pounds for a new battery. I could have gone to Mercedes and probably paid considerably more for their service to do the same. Instead, the price was reduced to a mere £25 because we are covered for full recovery with the AA. What made the experience really special is that I had no idea that I was paying for full recovery, it is just one of the features of the payment I made sometime in the past. The availability of the feature of the product that I had purchased was confirmed by the company representative, without prompt. He used a phone, an augmented GPS system and a computer to pull all the information together without need for any paper, or me, in the process.
If the THEAA made cars I would go out and buy one tomorrow! I cannot think of many car companies that I would trust for the same kind of service that THEAA provides!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
SQL Bits for the asking
I have been getting a little depressed at the way technology has been used to disseminate disinformation over the past few years. However, out of all bad things good things sometimes arise. So I am now very excited about the fact that technology is being addressed to remove disinformation and to return the power that information can provide to the user.
There are several examples of this that I have come across recently. The first is the offer from sky to customise adverts so that you only receive what you want instead of the general rubbish that comes through. Of course if they didn't put it there in the first place it would be even better but alas sometimes we learn by making mistakes.
Much more powerful filtering is however possible by using Business Intelligence techniques on data that we have floating around the organisation in an unwieldy way. If you are going to the SQL Bits conference, http://www.sqlbits.com/, then look out for two excellent sessions by a genius called Mark Whitehorn who works as a Solid Quality Mentor in his spare time (LOL). He is looking at two aspects of data mining that can lead to extracting meaningful information from noisy data. The first deals with Research data:-
Darwin’s Database
Business Intelligence (BI) is about turning data into information. Usually we apply BI to Business data (the clue is, after all, in the name) but it can extract information from any kind of data. Recently a team based Cambridge University has been applying BI to data that was available to Darwin. The results have rewritten our understanding of how Darwin developed the theory of evolution.
and the second with Social data:-
We normally collect and analyse transactional data (who bought what, from whom and when). Recently however, companies like eBay have also been collecting and analysing data about how their customers behave and interact. This social data is valuable – an eBay spokesperson recently said that the social data was more valuable than the transactional. This talk takes a look at social data, what it is, why it is valuable and asks the question “Who’s data is it anyway?”. The final question is “If eBay finds this data so valuable, should your company be taking an interest in it as well?”
Of course there are other geniuses there as well and lots of information in sessions covering various aspects of Database Administration, Development and Business Intelligence.
What is more, if you go to the conference site you will see that the Saturday sessions are absolutely free.
If you want more information about Solid Quality Mentors and what they can do for you, just go to http://www.solidq.com/ and take your pick from the fine offerings!
There are several examples of this that I have come across recently. The first is the offer from sky to customise adverts so that you only receive what you want instead of the general rubbish that comes through. Of course if they didn't put it there in the first place it would be even better but alas sometimes we learn by making mistakes.
Much more powerful filtering is however possible by using Business Intelligence techniques on data that we have floating around the organisation in an unwieldy way. If you are going to the SQL Bits conference, http://www.sqlbits.com/, then look out for two excellent sessions by a genius called Mark Whitehorn who works as a Solid Quality Mentor in his spare time (LOL). He is looking at two aspects of data mining that can lead to extracting meaningful information from noisy data. The first deals with Research data:-
Darwin’s Database
Business Intelligence (BI) is about turning data into information. Usually we apply BI to Business data (the clue is, after all, in the name) but it can extract information from any kind of data. Recently a team based Cambridge University has been applying BI to data that was available to Darwin. The results have rewritten our understanding of how Darwin developed the theory of evolution.
and the second with Social data:-
We normally collect and analyse transactional data (who bought what, from whom and when). Recently however, companies like eBay have also been collecting and analysing data about how their customers behave and interact. This social data is valuable – an eBay spokesperson recently said that the social data was more valuable than the transactional. This talk takes a look at social data, what it is, why it is valuable and asks the question “Who’s data is it anyway?”. The final question is “If eBay finds this data so valuable, should your company be taking an interest in it as well?”
Of course there are other geniuses there as well and lots of information in sessions covering various aspects of Database Administration, Development and Business Intelligence.
What is more, if you go to the conference site you will see that the Saturday sessions are absolutely free.
If you want more information about Solid Quality Mentors and what they can do for you, just go to http://www.solidq.com/ and take your pick from the fine offerings!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Solid Quality Summit Vienna 2009
This is a not to be missed international SQL Server conference to be held in Vienna and provided by Solid Quality Mentors. In case you are not familiar with this organisation, I am sure you will be familiar with some of the renowned SQL Server and Business Intelligence experts that this organisation consists of:-
Dejan Sarka, Herbert Albert, Gianluca Hotz, Itzik Ben-Gan, Andreas Schindler, Helmut Knappe, Davide Mauri, Aaron Johal, Klaus Aschenbrenner
If you have read one of their books, attended one of their classes/ conference sessions or used them on a mentoring project before then you will already have an idea of the level of understanding they allow you to take away from the experience of being with them, even for a short period of time. If not then you most likely will at some point and are in for a treat when this happens.
The summit offers the advantages of a large conference in a pleasant family atmosphere. The environment will allow you to mingle with the experts who between them cover the languages and communication styles of 7 countries and the depth of knowledge and ability rewarded by the Microsoft MVP programme.
You can go directly to the Solid Quality Mentor site and as well as finding further information about the breadth of options available for you to bask in the glow of knowledge delivery made possible by such an ensemble of expert mentors.
If you are self employed, rather than a full time employee who may be able to dip into a strategic technical budget, you can choose a one day session or attend the whole conference. Mix your visit to this beautiful part of the world with pleasure of the more relaxing kind. One thing is for sure - if you want high quality information compressed into the minimum amount of time and be able to maximise the outcome of your financial investment, then you have choices here that can help you meet your needs.
Dejan Sarka, Herbert Albert, Gianluca Hotz, Itzik Ben-Gan, Andreas Schindler, Helmut Knappe, Davide Mauri, Aaron Johal, Klaus Aschenbrenner
If you have read one of their books, attended one of their classes/ conference sessions or used them on a mentoring project before then you will already have an idea of the level of understanding they allow you to take away from the experience of being with them, even for a short period of time. If not then you most likely will at some point and are in for a treat when this happens.
The summit offers the advantages of a large conference in a pleasant family atmosphere. The environment will allow you to mingle with the experts who between them cover the languages and communication styles of 7 countries and the depth of knowledge and ability rewarded by the Microsoft MVP programme.
You can go directly to the Solid Quality Mentor site and as well as finding further information about the breadth of options available for you to bask in the glow of knowledge delivery made possible by such an ensemble of expert mentors.
If you are self employed, rather than a full time employee who may be able to dip into a strategic technical budget, you can choose a one day session or attend the whole conference. Mix your visit to this beautiful part of the world with pleasure of the more relaxing kind. One thing is for sure - if you want high quality information compressed into the minimum amount of time and be able to maximise the outcome of your financial investment, then you have choices here that can help you meet your needs.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Become like an oracle by inspecting the entrails of SQL Server
Those nice people at Microsoft, with a little help from others, have just released the latest story on the internals of SQL Server. Go take a look, here is where you will find it, it makes for a great starting point to base your own communications on!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Play and learn !
Mushware - Tesseract Trainer Movie
This is a nice piece of software that will help people visualize beyond the 3 physical dimensions that we consider intuitively in every day life. These guys also have a game that will immerse you in a 4D world.
It is a nice way to think of visualizing multi-dimensional data to derive information. After watching for a while you can get the sense of similarities and relationships between different subsets of data, represented by the lines, surface areas and shading in the image.
Amazing the complexity that comes from adding one more dimension to a cube! However, the fractal nature of the resultant images tends to indicate that the complexity can be managed by comparing like areas with each other, which is what business people do every day when they compare data sets over the time dimension, but today they often have to do it without visual aids like this.
Some business people still have to try and achieve the picture in their heads via static paper based reports, although, increasingly, we see the use of Business Intelligence tools to produce both canned and dynamic reports from both relational and multi-dimensional storage objects.
This is a nice piece of software that will help people visualize beyond the 3 physical dimensions that we consider intuitively in every day life. These guys also have a game that will immerse you in a 4D world.
It is a nice way to think of visualizing multi-dimensional data to derive information. After watching for a while you can get the sense of similarities and relationships between different subsets of data, represented by the lines, surface areas and shading in the image.
Amazing the complexity that comes from adding one more dimension to a cube! However, the fractal nature of the resultant images tends to indicate that the complexity can be managed by comparing like areas with each other, which is what business people do every day when they compare data sets over the time dimension, but today they often have to do it without visual aids like this.
Some business people still have to try and achieve the picture in their heads via static paper based reports, although, increasingly, we see the use of Business Intelligence tools to produce both canned and dynamic reports from both relational and multi-dimensional storage objects.