1.  The Ostrich (think Exec)

2.  The Penny Pincher (think CFO)

3.  The Power User (think…power user)

4.  The Politico (think CIO)

5.  The Freeloader (think Uncle Stew)

6.  You/Me/Us (duh!)

There’s even an opportunity to discover your own IT personality (there’s 8 of those…not to be confused with the 6 enemies above).  My results? 

“Holy split personality! The Empty Suit, The Human Roadblock, The Promiser — make up your mind already!”

http://ow.ly/12Iog

Happy reading!
- Jodie

—————————————————————————————–

Talk about complexity, I will never forget the day that I first learned about Turducken! For those of you who don’t know, a Turducken is exactly as it sounds; a chicken stuffed in a duck, stuffed in a turkey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken). You know, the classical hierarchal relationship of meat taken to the extreme. They go for about US $100 after shipping, but the adventurer can stuff their own. When I think of customers I sometimes think of the Turducken – Let me break this down a bit.

I have always thought that the most important thing that a company can do is to keep their customers. Makes sense to me, after all there is that great concept that its “X times as expensive to attract a new customer than to keep one”. Now don’t get me wrong, I would walk on broken glass without shoes uphill in the snow to help my customer with their Oracle Forms 4.5 on top of a My Sql implementation in a Citrix environment running off of a 1982 walkman radio. But when businesses say customers, they know what they are really talking about. But let’s decompose this a bit more.

You all know those sayings – the ones we all know and love…

• Customers are great!
• The customer is always right!
• Customers may not be right but they are never wrong!
• Our Customers are number 1!

Well, over the years I have come to modify that statement a bit and here’s why. “Customer” is a large group to take into analysis at face value. Customers are a complex group. Companies shell out a lot of moolah to understand this group. After all, this group is responsible for the business’ inertia. When companies wish to understand who their customers are, they don’t simply run a ‘customer listing’ and read through it while attending some boring IT meetings about data governance. They spend big money and they head down the road that ultimately leads to … Segmentation.

Segmentation is the classification or taxonomy of the business’ customers. They are usually based on habits or lifestyles plus some kind of loyalty factor. This data is usually derived by their purchase behavior – at the purchase or cart level. There you go; you now have X-subsets of customer. The theory is that each has their own set of core beliefs, common principles and behaviors. The goal is to then approach them in a more intimate manner, allowing both a level of customization and attaining some economies of scale.

However, let’s take another look at customers. This time lets add two driving forces; Business Intelligence and a potential recession. The impending economic fear will be the catalyst for innovation, as it always is. To maintain market share or to at least out pace our competition, companies will need to do something different and the conditions seem to be perfect. Lets pick up the story from above and write the ending.

Tom is returning from lunch when he just happens to walk past the marketing folks. They are talking about how to approach the “young and fun city dwellers” segment and how that must be different than the “impoverished with kids in college” segment. As he rounds the corner, he passes the finance folks as they make mention that yesterday’s margins are down 3.2% and that translates to a need for some kind of new report because it will impact profitability. Almost back to his office, he passes the sales folks who are chattering about how the “young and fun city dweller” are buying more and that even the “impoverished with kids in college” seemed to spend their tax refunds this week. And it hits him…

What if we combine this data? What if we work together? What if we look at customer loyalty and segmentation, but we add a dimension called ‘profitability’? Like reading the last 20 pages in a good novel, Tom plays this through and nets out as follows:

If we look at our segmentation of customers, within each group:

• We have customers who are loyal and profitable – these are out best customers. Our number one job is to keep these customers. Things I can do are; understand who they are and engage them on a more intimate level, customized for them (special offerings, internet bindings, tools, tips, personalized greeting, etc…), surround them with rewards and incentives (redirecting the money spent on the next group).

• We have customers who are not loyal and not profitable – why do we waste our resources on these folks? Or maybe it makes sense to cut them off completely. Recently Sprint gave their top 1,000 problem customers the boot (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/06/AR2007070602131.html). I’m not going to mention the online movie delivery service I use, but it seems the more I rent the longer it takes to get my movies. If I rent only a few, I get really good service. Coincidence?

• Now we need to understand how to make our profitable but non-loyal customers more loyal. How can we deliver better service, what promotes loyalty, maybe we should ask this subset?

• And we need to understand how to make our non profitable but loyal customers more profitable. Can we push higher margin items, does it make sense to engage them with alternatives, blend costs/products to move margin?

Of course this is only the beginning. BI can bring a depth of understanding to those who look across the enterprise to bring data together. The above scenario is only the tip of the ice berg – it’s the beginning point of an in-depth analysis that will deliver real and actionable information. Look for information to unhide and your customers will flock to your side!

Now for the perfect customer saying, feel free to quote me on this:

“Our best customers are best!”

It’s the perfect storm out there and BI just might be the generator that keeps your business’ lights on. If you do lose power, please make sure to eat up that Turducken – it only lasts a day in the fridge!

~ Scott Felten

That’s the last Tweet from Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s former CEO.  It was preceeded by his final blog just 1 week earlier.  http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/where_life_takes_me_next

In the time of Social Media, how we get the news is not nearly as riveting as how FAST we get news.  Via Facebook you get birth announcements, wedding invitations, divorce annoucements…via LinkedIn yo usee job changes and now via Twitter – resignations.  All real time.  Faster than you can spill the announcement to your immediate family, you can notify hundreds/thousands (or in Jonathan Schwartz’s 9107 people).

If you are a company, how do you manage this flow of communication?  More importantly how do you exploit this communication and how do you track the effectiveness?  I think that the next generation of BI will track social media impact to financial results and/or to customer satisfaction.  Imagine if you could track the ROI of your marketing efforts!  If a Marketer’s MBO could include # of tweets per day and % increase of profit and truly be tied together!!  Ah…dreamy

CEO Dashboard of the future

Good luck Jonathan!

- Jodie

 - Writers note:  when I started writing this at 4:51PM, @openJonathan had 9107 followers.  22 minutes later (5:13PM, he now has 9,151).  A quirky, unexpected message gets a following…quickly!

- Jodie

So sure, I could find what I was looking for…”what’s the temp at 9AM?”  It takes a pair of readers a few seconds, but it’s there.  There are so many other data points, however.  Is it getting warmer or colder?  Is it going to rain today?  Certainly the other data points are there that would help me to make the decision – relative humidity, cloud cover, wind speed – but I may need to consult the company metadata to understand what it all means and if those numbers mean it will be getting hotter or colder.  THIS IS DATA.  Your org has it…you’ve got to make sense of it. 

What LÛCRUM does, is make this DATA meaningful.  We like to call it Business Intelligence or Data Visualization.  Simply stated, we take all of those data points and help you to make better business decisions (or in this case, help you to decide if you should wear a coat or bring your umbrella). 

THIS IS BI!

THIS 

IS 

BUSINESS 

INTELLIGENCE!! 

Taking lots of data and making it meaningful…yeah, that’ s what LÛCRUM does. 

- Jodie

 Do you like warm temperatures,  gambling and shows? Las Vegas may be your new beginning!  The following positions are 3 month contract to hire opportunities in Las Vegas!!!!

Senior Software Engineer 

The Senior Software Engineer position is responsible for developing software for electronic gaming device and related products as directed as part of a team. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develops game or core machine software, including design, coding, testing and documentation to specified standards.
• Produces project schedules and completes project on time within budget.
• Ensures adequate testing of software, including preparing test data, test procedure and debug programs.
• Conducts independent research and analysis with minimum supervision from software manager.
• Prepares written report as required.
• May provide work direction, training, assist in setting goals for subordinate team members.
• Other duties as assigned.

 QUALIFICATIONS: 

Education:  Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field, or its equivalent.

Experience:  Requires a minimum of five years of experience in software engineering and/or programming.

Demonstrated experience in coding in C and C++.  Experience with UNIX/Linux system programming, network programming and low level device driver programming required.  Experience with OOA/D methodologies required.

Skills, knowledge, and qualifications:

• Experience with Agile Scrum methodologies will be a plus.
• Prior experience in the gaming industry will be a plus.
• Demonstrated excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Must be able to read, write, speak and understand English. 
• Must be able to work independently and be team oriented. 

This position may require registration with the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) and/or other gaming jurisdictions in which we operate.

Sr. Graphic Artist

We are an Australian-owned leading global entertainment company currently seeking an Artist/Illustrator to join our team-oriented group of creatives and software experts. As a senior artist in the team, you’ll conceptualize, design and develop quality graphics for new games and connect quickly and confidently with management.

A natural leader with sophisticated conceptual skills, you’ll come prepared to mentor junior staff and adeptly integrate graphics packages into an animation and software systems. You’ll come to us with relevant qualifications and significant professional graphic design experience, and strong skills in traditional and computer drawing, and layout and finishing.

This is a rare opportunity to showcase your talents as you produce interesting and varied work using cutting edge tools and technology. You’ll find great satisfaction in leading junior team members by example and developing graphics that will be released onto the international market.

Sr. Graphics Animator

You will play a key role in creating visual content. You will also be integral to the design process, from discussing the brief, right through to visualizing the concept and producing the finished product.

You will need to be a confident communicator who can discuss concepts with a wide range of people at all levels. As you will have a high level of input during frequent briefings and creative meetings. What we will look for in you is a tertiary qualification in either graphic, illustration, animation or industrial design. You will also need strong skills in both Photoshop and Illustrator and be an expert in either flash, TV Pain or 3D Studio Max. Equally important will be your confidence to design your own characters, create animation and come up with original concepts.

• Develops characters and logos and reel symbols for gaming devices.
• Strong drawing skills.
• Maya, 3DStudioMax, Aftereffects knowledge a must.
• Portfolio required.
• Minimum of 8 years experience in drawing, good composition, graphical animation design, in computer art. 
• Minimum 5 years experience in the gaming industry preferred.
• Associates degree and/or vocational certification in video graphics or equivalent.

This is your chance to take on an interesting role in a vibrant and creative collaborative team environment, where you will be encouraged to maximize your creative input.

Sr. Game Mathematical Designer

We’re currently on the lookout for Sr. Game Designers to develop concepts and formulas for high-quality games that will be released on the global market.

Combining your creativity with your mathematical abilities, you’ll design new gaming concepts and follow through with the associated specifications, algorithms and combination sheets. A personable team player you will work closely with designers, artist and software engineers to brainstorm, refine, communicate and test-drive your concepts.

What we will look for in you is games design experience and leadership qualities. You will also need a degree in mathematics or similar, and the capacity to produce games on both new existing platforms. An understanding of programming in C would be advantageous.

• Exceptional understanding of mathematical concepts in gaming.
• Ability to create game concepts and original math models.                                                                  
• Works with other game designers in conducting and verifying mathematic calculations.
• Programming skills a plus.
•  Minimum of 6 years experience in slot game design and a minimum of 3 years of Stepper game design.
• Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Computer Science or Engineering

This role offers you an excellent opportunity to see your designs released around the world. You can look forward to challenging leadership responsibilities and the chance to collaborate with some of the industry’s finest designers.

The programming over the coming months will include a monthly Happy Hour, mentoring programs and roundtable discussions.  Additionally, they are establishing an on-line directory for their members which will include other women’s groups and organizations with similar missions.

The Keynote Speaker today was Maribeth Rahe, CEO & President of Fort Washington Investment Advisiors, Inc.  She provided the group with her wisdom on how to succeed in business.  She provided the group with these 13 pearls of wisdom:

The Rule of 13

1. Be strong, not weak.
2. Always be willing to do what is right for your company, your clients, your colleagues, and your community.
3. Learn from experience – both yours and that of others.
4. Be open minded, flexible, and change-oriented.
5. Never settle for the status quo or anything expedient.
6. Learn to trust your instincts.
7. Earn your stripes, daily.
8. Measure your performance.
9. Support your team personally and professionally.
10. Be encouraging, not negative.
11. Celebrate success.
12. Say “Thank you”.
13. Think before your speak or act.

Thanks to Suzanne and Maribeth and all of the other wonderful contributors to the event.  Hope to see you at the next one!

- Jodie

iPad

I wrote a post earlier today prior to seeing the official “unveiling” of the iPad.  After watching 10 minutes of the broadcast, I trashed that version.  Here is what I saw in the iPad…

1.  It’s a iPhone on steroids.  All of the things I love about my iPhone are here.

2.  It’s cool…yeah, I mean it…cool. 

3.  It replaces the newspaper…with a newspaper.  You wanna read the NY Times?  They’ll have an app for that.  With a crystal clear 9″ x 7″ screen it will be better than the newspaper.  I sure hope my Cincinnati Enquirer gets on board with this!  Here’s a few more specs for you:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/187870/ipad_specs_what_apple_announced_and_what_we_still_dont_know.html

4.  For business apps, like mail, I can type longer messages with the larger keyboard.  My fingers won’t get tired from the one key at a time keystrokes.  This will be great when out of the office.  I’ve often waited to get back to the office to respond to a mail message that I say when I was out, simply because my response would take to long on the little keyboard.  Even blog posts could be written on the iPad.

5.  Small & lightweight – THIS is the device to take with you on your next trip out of town!

So it has no hard drive…so what!  With Google docs, I don’t need one.  If I keep my files on SharePoint, I can use Lucrum’s own iPhone app – Attache to access those docs.  (Hey Steve – the SDK is already available for the iPad…can you work on that Attache app??)

Wow!  So excited!  Wonder how long I’ll be able to keep from buying one of these??

- Jodie

Our new building

For those of you that read my blog last week Farewell to 312 Plum Street, you will be happy to know that Eric made it safely to 7755 Montgomery Road.  Now we begin the daunting task of unpacking, reorganizing, hanging (pictures), and navigating our new landscape.    Hope to see you soon!

Matt has a lot of unpacking to do!

January 2010 Cover

Have you heard of Technology First?  Technology First is a Dayton, Ohio  based industry-led, industry-driven trade association dedicated to:

• Proactively Representing IT in the Region
• Increasing understanding of Technology First and its value
• Recognizing and promoting our membership
• Highlighting niche technology companies

Technology First looks to strengthen technology thought leadership by inspiring innovation, focusing on new ideas and best practices, presenting leading edge industry information that is both strategic to business and technical folks.  They also look to inspire volunteer leadership by encouraging stronger member participation which involves more working committees and develops programming to best meet industry needs.  Additionally, they look to engage in conversations with technology community by leveraging interactive social media.

I was asked to prepare an article on the Future of Business Intelligence.  Imagine my surprise when that article was selected as their cover story this month!  Click here to read.  I’d love to get your thoughts.

Have a great week!

- Jodie