Predictive Analytics & Healthcare

February 12, 2010

As a follow up regarding my post yesterday on Predictive Analytics, I wanted to bring attention to an article that Wired Magazine had last November on a predictive concept for “Modeling Human Drug Trials – Without the Human.” Using similar concepts, as well as rules which were indeed put in place by PHD’s, these folks replicated human trials which had taken 7 years of study – in about an hour. Yup, hit run on the computer, and an hour later the results popped up – which according to the article hit 2 of the 4 markers studied perfectly, the 3rd within an approved margin of error, and the 4th was just below the accepted margin of error. Ok, the computer model took 2 months to setup, and 1 hour to run, but running this model in 2 months and 1 hour, compared with the actual trial which involved thousands of people, millions of dollars, and 7 years? WOW, very very powerful, controverisal for sure, but very powerful. Here’s the link for your reading pleasure. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/11/ff_archimedes/…

Written by JodyDetzel · Filed Under Business & Leadership, Business Intelligence, LUCRUM News | 1 Comment

Microsoft Predictive Analytics!

February 11, 2010

Data Mining. Predictive Analytics. Quick what comes to mind? Expensive. Complicated. Statistical PHD required. Right? Not anymore, I’m very excited that Microsoft has entered this field with SQL 2008, and it appears could make a big difference regarding time, complexity and cost associated with leveraging your historical data to predict future events related to your organization.

Which products will sell best in a down economy?
Who is likely to be a loyal customer, and who is not?
Which treatment would be the most effective for this patient?

Answers/predictive models based not upon gut instinct – but upon the facts derived from the very real treasure trove of data locked up in transactional IT systems. Very cool concept. It may not be an iPad – but I think Microsoft’s predictive capabilities will have a big impact on their intended market nonetheless, and I’m very excited to be a part of it!

Written by JodyDetzel · Filed Under Business Intelligence, LUCRUM News | Leave a Comment

Current Information Technology positions available for hire!

January 29, 2010

Please email Patrick Ryan direct: pryan@lucruminc.com for additional details

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.

Written by PatrickRyan · Filed Under Jobs | Leave a Comment

PC?

September 22, 2008

Microsoft recently launched the second phase of it’s new “Windows Not Walls” ad campaign. The first phase, featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates engaging in strange conversations, was wisely pulled from the air waves early. It was widely panned for its high price tag, being difficult to understand, and not mentioning a product. It did get people talking, but not really in the way one would hope spending 300 Million Dollars would.

Now, Phase 2 is much different, and in my opinion much more effective. These ads take the “I’m A PC” theme that Apple has so brilliantly created, and turn it upside down. They feature real people – some of them famous and some just regular folks – stating “I am a PC, and I _____” (fill in the blank with some trait or task associated with the speaker.)

I found the ads to be pretty engaging. I am a big believer in story telling as a vehicle for Marketing, and each speaker conveys a concise and unique story about themselves and their relationship to Microsoft. As a viewer, I was intrigued to see who was next and what they did? I was interested. The ad did a great job of making the point that Microsoft has relevance to real people doing real things. It was sort of the antithesis of the Seinfeld ads.

Another positive feature of the ads was the focus on the user. The ads don’t speak to features and functions, but rather to the real world applications and desired outcomes and of using technology. It is a shift in tone, and one that Microsoft should embrace wholeheartedly . This should go way beyond ads, and should be at the heart of every action the company takes. “How does this help make people’s lives better?” This should be the mantra that the firm embraces in all its decisions and actions.

It will be interesting to see if the story told in the ads matches the real world story that people experience with Microsoft. With competition coming from every angle, ads alone will not suffice. Still, the campaign is a step in the right direction.

For the record… I’m a Mac / PC / Ubuntu Linux Mutt who views the OS as increasingly irrelevant in a web based world - all good and well until a hurricane blows through Ohio, knocks out power, renders the web inaccessible, and makes television ads unavailable, at which time I am a human being.

What do you think of the new ads?

What do you think of the new Microsoft "I'm A PC" ads?

Those Microsoft Ads are Great (43%, 12 Votes)
Those Microsoft Ads are Awful (39%, 11 Votes)
Microsoft Ads... What Microsoft Ads? (18%, 5 Votes)

Total Voters: 28

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Written by davidebowman · Filed Under Business & Leadership | 3 Comments

So What Is The Deal With The Beachball?

August 21, 2008

Today I read in the Wall Street Journal Online that Microsoft has hired Jerry Seinfeld to star in a series of advertisements for the firm. Seinfeld will reportedly be paid $10 million for the spots, which are part of a 300 million dollar campaign aspiring to reposition Microsoft as forward thinking, customer friendly, people savvy technology company. The campaign is being launched in large part as a response to the growing popularity of Apple and the increased adoption of open source operating systems like Ubuntu Linux.

While I think Seinfeld is hilarious, I question the wisdom of this decision. Certainly there are plenty of exceptionally bright people at Microsoft. I am quite sure they have good reason to believe that Jerry can help to change people’s perceptions of the company. I do believe that whatever he does will probably be entertaining. For $10 million it should be. The problem is that people don’t need Microsoft to entertain them, they need Microsoft to care about them – or at least appear to care.

Microsoft should have invested that 300 million in making their products more reliable and useful, and in offering unparalleled service to its customers. With the resources at its disposal, surely the company could offer support services so remarkable that no one in the world could compete with them. “Vista not working right? – We’re on it.” “Spreadsheet locked up? – No worries because you are with Microsoft.” “Need help with that flyer? – we’ll create a portal for you and walk you through it.” “We are Microsoft.” “We are here to help you do more.” “We know that you have choices when it comes to software, and we want you to choose us.” “That is why we work to earn your trust and keep your business.” Can you imagine the buzz this would generate? It would be huge.

Microsoft could create a community of users supporting one another and leveraging technology to do it. They could tap into the collective wisdom of the crowd to make improvements and to drive innovation. They could build loyalty and trust. They could exploit the weakness of other providers which is the perception of risk by removing risk from their own products. If Microsoft was the safe, secure, trusted choice in the mind of the consumer, then the consumer would be willing to pay a premium.

They could have stores, mobile help, seminars, online support, help lines, surveys, blogs, and more… instead they will have very funny commercials.

Apple has had success because of innovative products, beautiful design, and smart campaigns geared to exploit the perceived weaknesses of Microsoft. It is not that Apple is without flaw. They have a very closed system. They don’t always play nice with consumers. They are expensive. Recently they have had some high profile mistakes with the iPhone and Me.com. They are not perfect, but they are smart.

It is my opinion that the smart thing for Microsoft to do would be to invest in the consumer and not the endorsement of a celebrity – even if it is Seinfeld. Maybe they will get Lloyd Braun to sell some software from Mr. Costanza’s garage. SERENITY NOW!

What do you think? Is hiring Seinfeld a brilliant idea or big waste of time?

Microsoft Pays $10 million to Seinfeld For Ads

Bad Idea (69%, 11 Votes)
I Have No Idea? (25%, 4 Votes)
Good Idea (6%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 16

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Written by davidebowman · Filed Under Business & Leadership | 3 Comments

Thoughts on Bill Gates Leaving Microsoft

July 31, 2008

To be frank, I have not heard much positing or negative thought regarding Bill Gates leaving Microsoft as full time CEO. Me personally, I am happy that he has chosen to step down. Not because Microsoft is facing challenging times in our industry. But, because his new full time role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will bring good to our world.

No matter what you think about Bill, he made a lot of positive contributions to the computing industry that people tend to overlook. For one, Microsoft standardized the OS. Without that, the industry would be a lot smaller. Software, hardware, and services would be disparate and usefulness and acceptance poor. He had a knack for getting software into the limelight and his success did not go unnoticed.

Success like Bill achieved can provoke envy and jealousy. I say, let the man be, he deserves it. He conquered the computing world and now its time to conquer a world that doesn’t have code and compliers. It has hunger, homelessness, and disease; it’s our world.

I have no doubt that the world will be better for Bill stepping down at Microsoft and stepping up at his foundation. But in the meantime, at least he knew the meaning of having fun at work!

Enjoy!

Written by Steve McWhorter · Filed Under Business & Leadership | 2 Comments

Some SharePoint competitors in the Enterprise 2.0 space…

May 19, 2008

There’s been a lot of buzz over the past couple of months around companies who are pitching their products against SharePoint. Just the fact that companies are targeting SharePoint tells you that it is the product to beat. For instance, have you read about the offerings from Google and IBM?

Here’a a link to a ZDNet article saying Google takes on Microsoft SharePoint with Google Sites. And here’s another one asking: Is Google Sites going to be a SharePoint killer?

Both articles conclude that for all the hype surrounding Google Sites and Google Apps, apparently they still have a long way to go to catch up to SharePoint. Also, given that Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is available for free with Windows Server 2003, users do not need to pay any licensing fees to use the basic collaboration platform available with SharePoint. And by the way, did you know that Office Live Small Business (which provides everything you need to take your small business online, including a free website, free email, free online business applications, etc.) and Office Live Workspaces (an online place to save, access, and share documents and files), are built on SharePoint products?

IBM recently announced how they’d like to “liberate” your apps from SharePoint. Also look at another article around the same topic. IBM acknowledges the “viral adoption of SharePoint” in the enterprise, almost like Lotus Notes back in the 90s. And it’s interesting to note that the man behind the success of Lotus Notes, Ray Ozzie, isn’t with IBM or Lotus, but is the Chief Software Architect at Microsoft! Hmmm… And I know of at least 2 major corporations with a huge presence in Cincinnati, OH, that have decided to move away from Lotus Notes to SharePoint! I guess we have to wait and see if Quickr is able to stem this flow…

Evans Data Corporation’s recently surveyed over 400 developers for its May 2008 report on “Web 2.0 Developer Programs – 2008 Rankings”. Some folks might be surprised to hear that Google came in at second place. So who came in first? Apparently, “the strength of Microsoft’s Windows Live offerings for Tools and SDKs and Web Services allow them to finish first overall”.

So it seems that SharePoint is not something an organization would want to ignore or take lightly – plus, serious web 2.0 developers need to more closely look at Microsoft’s offering in this area.

Written by Raveen Rajavarma · Filed Under Technology | 1 Comment

Oracle supports Microsoft

May 16, 2008

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in conversations around the topic of “Oracle vs. Microsoft”. I’ve heard both sides of the story ranging from “SQL Server for mission critical operations…are you crazy!” to “Oracle costs me my first born child…year after year!”. While these discussions are often entertaining, the line delineating the two database giants is blurring by each subsequent release.

In my years consulting for LÛCRUM, I have worked for numerous clients that have had installations of both Oracle and Microsoft running in their environments. With recent statistics estimating that Oracle controls >50% of the database market and Microsoft controlling >50% of the server operating system market, are you surprised? SQL Server only runs on Microsoft. Oracle offers more operating system versatility. While you’ll see UNIX and Linux installations, Oracle’s ability to run on Microsoft remains strong and they are improving their functionality with respect to Microsoft development. Where might an Oracle database deployed on a Microsoft server make most sense? In the small and mid-sized business market (SMB). In the SMB market, Oracle has competitively priced versions such as Oracle Database Standard Edition and Standard Edition One.

So what advantages does running Oracle on Microsoft have to offer? First, Oracle has tight integration with Active Directory and Windows Security Framework. Items such as single sign-on and security via database role and Active Directory group fall into this category. Next, Oracle offers 32-bit and 64-bit versions. In the 32-bit version, Oracle is able to utilize up to 3GB (out of a 4GB O.S. maximum) of system memory for database use. Finally, Oracle has also been working on enhancing its ability to integrate with the Windows development suite, specifically Visual Studio 2008. Oracle supports .NET in 3 ways. The Oracle Data Provider for .NET leverages ADO.NET API and allows .NET applications to access Oracle data. These APIs should be familiar to most Microsoft developers. In addition, through an add-in (free for that matter), developers can work with Oracle services via Visual Studio 2005 (and 2008 as previously mentioned). Through the development suite, developers have access to various wizards to perform various database tasks (i.e. DDL), a procedure editor (for PL/SQL procedures, packages, and functions), a Debugger for runtime error interaction, and integrated help for items such as Oracle error reference, SQL, and PL/SQL user manuals. Lastly, Oracle has integrated .NET extensions directly inside the database. This allows developers to created stored procedures and functions using C# or VB.NET within Visual Studio. This code can then be deployed to the database and referenced wherever a stored procedure or function is permitted.

Oracle has shown it is advantageous to offer solutions that fit neatly into an operating system that controls the majority of the server market, even if that vendor also happens to be a major competitor in the database market. Offer a product that is extensible and easy to use with development GUIs is sure to give you a seat at the table when it comes to choosing a solution for your organization. That is precisely why Oracle supports Microsoft (most of the time <grin>).

Dave

Written by Dave Cordas · Filed Under Business Intelligence, Technology | 2 Comments

So why are people flocking to SharePoint 2007?

May 12, 2008

By flocking, I mean that “the vast majority of enterprises — 96% — are considering, planning on, in the process of, or have already completed deploying at least some part of Microsoft Office System server software. And most of those — 87% — plan to implement or upgrade to Microsoft Office System server software within the next 12 months” and that’s from Forrester (see the free Forrester research document titled “Topic Overview: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007”, by Kyle McNabb and Rob Koplowitz, dated April 24, 2008)!

It’s easy to see why SharePoint 2007 is such a strong contender in the enterprise collaboration space, when you realize that it combines messaging, social computing, real time collaboration and virtual team workspaces.

I am currently working on developing a plan and strategy for collaboration for a client and it’s all about leveraging the power of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (SharePoint 2007) to increase employee productivity and connect seamlessly to people, knowledge and data to help employees make better informed decisions so that they can serve their customers more effectively.

SharePoint 2007 provides blogs and wikis as site templates so that you can easily create those as needed. The People Finder can help you locate people based on different directory level attributes and the neat thing is you can find people based on skills or expertise that they have specified in their user profiles. People and group lists are readily accessible depending on user privileges and presence information is available as well. Real Time Presence and Communication is enabled wherever the real-time presence smart tag icon displays. In conjunction with Live Meeting 2007, Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007, this makes for a very powerful collaboration tool.

In the messaging space, the tight integration between Outlook 2007, Exchange 2007 and SharePoint 2007 allows you to take offline an entire library so you can work disconnected from the network. Also your SharePoint tasks can display right alongside your Outlook tasks. Alerts that you set up on your SharePoint site automatically send you email notifications. Discussion boards are email enabled so users can save their email as part of a threaded discussion. Also, lists and libraries can be email enabled so as to allow users to email a document directly into a library. There is an RSS viewer web part with which you can subscribe to an RSS feed. Furthermore, every list and library in SharePoint 2007 is RSS enabled, so you can subscribe to the contents of a list or library via RSS.

When it comes to virtual team workspaces, SharePoint 2007 provides several different site templates out of the box. Apart from this, Microsoft has released 40 site templates that cater to commonly used functionality such as vacation scheduling, contacts list management, etc. Furthermore, it is very easy to create a custom site template – once you configure your site to work just the way you want, you can easily save that as a site template so you can now reuse that as needed. These virtual team workspaces provide a repository for lists of items, libraries of documents, announcements, online calendars, surveys, task and issue lists, project tasks list with Gantt chart functionality, and task coordination using simple workflows. Lists and libraries can enforce security at the item level and they also provide versioning, explicit check in/check out, content approval before publishing, etc. These team workspaces can be also be secured at an individual or group level. SharePoint 2007 makes it possible to easily create no-code, declarative, sequential workflows based on business rules using the SharePoint Designer 2007 tool. Combine SharePoint 2007 with Groove 2007 for collaborating across organizational boundaries, whether connected or offline and now you have an even more compelling scenario of use.

So all in all, it makes sense that the adoption of SharePoint 2007 is so pervasive!

Written by Raveen Rajavarma · Filed Under Technology | Leave a Comment

Get a handle on Unstructured Data

May 8, 2008

One of the big topics in data management these days is Unstructured Data. What is it? Word documents, spreadsheets, video, images, email, and instant messaging are a few examples. How does one harness the wealth of information contained in these non-standardized formats, IF you are trying to capitalize on your existing data management infrastructure? Microsoft has attempted to answer this question with its upcoming release of SQL Server 2008 (SS2008).

Due out later this year, SS2008 provides built-in support for Unstructured Data through the FILESTREAM functionality. FILESTREAM combines the power of a relational database platform with the storage flexibility of a NTFS file system. This is accomplished by storing references within the database to binary large object data (BLOBs) residing on the file system. In this fashion, SS2008 manages access and interaction with the information, but is not responsible for the direct storage of it. Unstructured Data can be accessed through typical Transact-SQL statements or via Win32 API calls. FILESTREAM is a good option to consider when objects being stored are larger than 1 MB in size and is limited only by the volume size of the underlying file system. If objects are <1 MB on average, you’ll get better performance by using the Varbinary(max) data type directly within the database.

From a security standpoint, FILESTREAM fits neatly into the database. If a user has permission to query a table and column containing FILESTREAM data, they are able to access the Unstructured Data. This access however does not carry forward at the file system level. Only the account running the SQL Server service account has access to the files at the file system level.

Is this only way to deal with Unstructured Data? Of course not, but it is an option. There are some limitations when using FILESTREAM with other SS2008 functionality. Special consideration needs to be addressed when utilizing Database Snapshots, Mirroring, Replication, Log Shipping, and Clustering.

Continue to browse through other blogs on www.thefuturevalueofbusiness.com to see conversations on SharePoint 2007 and its role in taming Unstructured Data.