Closing the Intelligence Gap

The Academy Awards and business analytics

Gary Cokins — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:59:37 +0000

A year ago I wrote a similar blog as this one based on my finding the acceptance speeches at Hollywood’s Academy Awards to be inspirational. The speeches I enjoy most are Oscar recipients who thank the teams that contributed to their receiving the award. Success comes much more from teams [...]

Watch my hips, not my lips

Gary Cokins — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:18:05 +0000

Many organizations over plan and under execute. The managerial styles I admire are ones with a bias towards action. Not wild actions to run the train off the tracks, but actions that move the train forward. The most memorable managers I have worked for were those with a ready-fire-aim approach [...]

Could Beethoven have implemented business analytics?

Gary Cokins — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:51:23 +0000

Could the great classical music composer Ludwig Beethoven successfully implement business analytics in an organization? I was educated as an industrial engineer, and I do not view myself as a scholar of the performing arts, literature, or classical music. However I have always been a careful observer and listener of [...]

Accountants’ darkest time is just before the dawn

Gary Cokins — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:57:14 +0000

CFOs and their finance and accounting function have been distracted from being their coveted strategic partner role because they are mired with regulatory and compliance work. That is now changing. They are embracing business analytics. The history of accounting I will substantially oversimplify the history of accounting mainly for the [...]

CFO.com’s CPM conference: CFOs see FOs

Gary Cokins — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:59:53 +0000

This January 30th the publisher CFO.com, that ranks roughly third of fifty financial media publishers in circulation behind the Wall Street Journal and The Economist, will host their popular CFO.com Corporate Performance Management (CPM) conference in New York City. The theme will be “Accelerating High Performance: Tactics, Tools, and Technology.” [...]

Who are the animals of analytics-based enterprise performance management ?

Gary Cokins — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 06:58:55 +0000

Ever notice how the personalities and dispositions of animals often resemble humans? An organization’s pursuit of adopting analytics-based enterprise performance management involves personalities of all types. How are they like the creatures that populate our planet? A blog is recommended to be less than 500 words, but I violate that [...]

Ambiguity and uncertainty are your friends

Gary Cokins — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:39:52 +0000

If you are a business analyst or are responsible for enterprise performance and risk management, then ambiguity and uncertainty are your friends. Why? If getting answers were easy, your salary would probably be lower! The search for surprises Regardless how analytics might be defined there should be no argument about [...]

Joseph Farrell (1935-2011) / cinema analytics pioneer

Gary Cokins — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:30:52 +0000

History reveals numerous examples of how blind influential executives and managers can be to breakthrough advances in their industry. For example, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) had a dramatic rise and fall due to blindness and perhaps resistance to change. DEC was an entrepreneurial computer company that grew to $14 billion in sales and employed an [...]

2012 New Year resolutions for CEOs and executives

Gary Cokins — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:50:43 +0000

January 1st, New Year Day, is a chance for proposing changes. The tradition is to make resolutions such as to lose weight or exercise more. Typically they are personal ones made by the individuals, but I have a new twist by making a resolution for CEOs, heads of government agencies [...]

Why will analytics be the next competitive edge?

Gary Cokins — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:36:25 +0000

Analytics is becoming a competitive edge for organizations. Once a "nice-to-have," applying analytics is now becoming mission critical. An August 6, 2009, New York Times article titled, “For Today’s Graduate, Just One Word: Statistics” reminds me of the famous quote of advice to Dustin Hoffman’s character in his career breakthrough [...]