FountainBlue

FountainBlue’s August 5 Bi-Monthly Business Analytics Event focused on Business Analytics in Financial Services and featured:

Facilitator Melissa McDonell, Brand Voice Marketing

Panelist Satya Kunapuli, Director - Research, Testing and Analytics at Intuit, Principal at Esskay Solutions Inc.

Panelist Raj Sen, Group Manager, Multi-Channel Analytics, Adobe

Panelist Carl Snyder, Senior Industry Principal, Banking, SAP America

Please join us in thanking our speakers for taking the time to share their advice and thoughts. Below are notes from the conversation. 

We were fortunate to have such experienced panelists who shared a wide range perspectives and thoughts on business analytics trends. They commented on the volume of data, the advances in both hardware and software technology, and most importantly, the importance of building customer-centric, solutions which can help companies make data-based decisions which would serve their customers real-time. Indeed, business analytics is changing the way we do business, and the vendors on our panel spoke about how analytics and data are helping their companies to better understand and respond to the needs their customers and plan for updating and upgrading their products and services based on their customers’ needs. The panelists commented that we are already serving the customers well, much at the same level as a Marriott might treat us, remembering our stay frequency and personal requests. But with additional data and analytics, we could learn to treat our customers more like how a Ritz Carlton might treat us – remembering and anticipating every request, for a stellar experience.

Whether they are working with the ever-growing volume of data available, or serving a larger volume of customers, or integrating with a larger myriad of devices designed easily communicate real-time facts to enable effective, targeted decision-making, it is clear that the most forward-thinking companies are 1) leveraging technology to better serve their customers, 2) valuing the high-impact customer, 3) raising the bar for how to better serve customers real-time, 4) seeing the value business analytics solutions as a competitive advantage, and 5) training and educator internal staff, partners and customers to accept and adopt these solutions and integrate them into their day-to-day work.

The bottom line is that as amazing as current and projected results are, there will be an ever-increasing demand for speed, scalability, and functionality, and companies that can keep ahead of the curve are well positioned to better serve, impress, recruit and retain customers.

The panelists commented on how financial services industry differs from other industries: 1) they may be more adverse to technology solutions, 2) they may be more risk-adverse and more likely to have data security concerns, 3) their legacy applications, including those around loans for example, most be easily ported and integrated into a new business analytics solution, without revamping how the old processes are done, 4) those in the industry are more comfortable with paper than with computers or tablets, and 5) regulations and policies will both make leaders in the financial services more reticent and risk-adverse *and* force them to adopt technology-driven automated processes.

Below is some advice for those innovating in the business analytics in financial services industry:

Be Strategic:

• It’s not just about collecting data for data’s sake, but more about how that data that empower fact-based decision-making.
• Ensure business analytics solutions are in alignment with company goals.
• Consider how regulatory, privacy, security and governance impact customer purchase decisions and factor that into your strategic growth and expansion plans.
• For entrepreneurs running and growing a company, choose a tool before you think you need it. Don’t just rely on your instinct to tell you it’s time to do it, but have the tool show you the data about *why* you need to do *what* in a quantifiable way.
• Small, medium-sized and large companies have similar needs for business analytics, but their volume of need, the volume of transaction and level of support vary. Know which market you serve and focus your communications and services on that niche market.

• Focus always on what the customer is doing, what’s important to them, where they are spending their time, where they are physically, what tools are useful for them, etc
• Develop and enhance relationships with customers through digital and other channels, and also watch for the merger and integration of CRM, ERP, ATM and other systems.
• Help customers use the data to break down silos around roles and products and build collaborations within an organization, between customers and vendors, channels and partners.

• Use the right technology to secure the most relevant data, with the right objectives, using the right assumptions for the right people.
• Leverage social media for outreach, community-building, and feedback.

The bottom line is that to better serve the financial services industry, one must make the technology simple, easy-to-use, understand and act upon, and integrate it into their daily operations seamlessly, while proving the value through measurable reports and bigger customer retention and acquisition.

FountainBlue’s Bi-Monthly Business Analytics Event: Business Analytics in eCommerce and Retail and featured:

Facilitator Adrian Ott, CEO, Exponential Edge Inc. and Author, The 24-Hour Customer

Panelist Darren Bruntz, Senior Director, Analytics Platform & Delivery, eBay

Panelist Tobin Gilman, Vice President, BI and EPM Product Marketing, Oracle

Panelist Raj Sen, Group Manager, Multi-Channel Analytics, Adobe

Please join us in thanking our hosts at eBay for graciously hosting us at their facilities and for their ongoing support of FountainBlue. Below are notes from the conversation. 

With the explosion of online, web, social, mobile and video, the sheer volume of data over the next four years will approach the total amount ever created in the history of the planet. As our panelists agree that understanding what customers are doing and personalizing experiences based on their behavior is a must-have, not a nice-to-have, the challenge for technology companies and retailers is how to take this volume of data and target, acquire, engage and measure customers in order to provide personalized systems which would lead to better customer experiences and loyalty.

We have rapidly moved from a period of relatively little data, most of it offline, with few big tech companies specializing in analytics and business decisions based on intuition to a period where the volumes of data overwhelm even the largest tech companies, large companies partner with other large companies to cost-effective provide personalized experiences for customers, and seamless presentation of dynamically generated information online, customized to the needs of the user, based on analytics.

The sophisticated business analytics of today's large tech companies including data management, database technology, data integration, standard BI, end-user, predictive, financial performance management, hardware and software are all leveraged to serve the individual and personalized needs of the user. But there is a challenge of creating scalable, cost-effective solutions which serve a business purpose, and isn't too high-maintenance from a technology perspective. Each of our panelists and their companies are looking for opportunities to innovate in business analytics space overall, in the retail and other sectors so that we build trust and do the right thing for the customer, saving them time and money, while respecting their privacy.

This challenge of getting-heard-through-the-noise has existed for decades, yet it is amplified now for several reasons, including the proliferation of products and brands, the number of channels where information can be presented to customers - from web site to mobile to brick and mortar, plus the integration of all, the relative ease of reaching to customers leveraging technology like e-mail and web sites, the formidable margin pressures put on management with the commiserate pressure to ensure advertising dollars reap rewards, and other factors. There may be more information and data to process, but studies find that consumers are using the same amount of time to make purchasing decisions now as they have before.

This all leads to the impatience of customers and the escalating demand for instant evaluation metrics and vetted recommendations from trusted sources. Below is advice from our panelists for better serving that customer and providing value-added, dynamically-generated, data-driven personalized solutions for those customers:

• Be a trusted brand and resource to the customer. Leverage their behavior, history, profile, and other data so that it best serves them while respecting their privacy and adding value to them.
• Leverage social media so that the wisdom of the crowd can best decide the best sellers, the best buyers and the best products.
• Be a neutral body for both sellers and buyers and be clear on policies and procedures for buying and selling.
• From the vendor's perspective, your business analytics program goal should be more customer loyalty, increased likelihood of up-sell and increased referrals. From the customer's perspective, the goal might be more timely, more personalized recommendations based on patterns of use, survey of needs, and available product offerings.
• Address the needs of the customer with sophisticated, integrated technologies which appear seamless to the customer.
• Understand and segment your users and note patterns so that you can better serve and even anticipate the needs of the customer.
• Rather than striving to interpret the huge volumes of generated data, seek larger patterns of behaviors and create use cases which would make recommendations on what's important to the user, without looking at *all* the data to justify that recommendation. Extend the concept further into use case families to better understand customer segments, product feedback, buying trends, etc.
• Collaborate with key vendors to create generic application for future use, keeping solutions simple for customers, retailers and vendor alike.
• Buy or build technologies that would serve your customer, but if possible, don’t create another technology stack which needs to be upgraded and managed.

• Find the integration between mobile devices and cameras and how it can integrate with more traditional retail experience in brick and mortar stores as well as in ecommerce solutions.
• Leverage social media to more efficiently provided customized, personalized, vetted feedback to niche customers.
• Make it easy for retailers who are not necessarily technophilic to learn and adopt business analytics practices which would serve both their customers and their businesses.
• Leverage personalized online visualization so customers experience the product visually and in 3D in a way that drives customer purchasing decisions without too much extra technology overhead.
• Create a solution which would generate results faster, more accurately, more efficiently.
• Consumers are hungry for a score - how do you create a vetted, five-star instant-gradafication system cost-effectively to them?
• Go beyond tables and bar charts and produce 3D reports like waterfalls or scatter-plots so that retailers can better manage their merchandise online, on-site, in the warehouse, and elsewhere. These reports
• Create solutions which address the intersection of data on behavior, customers, transactions and products and translate it into actionable correlations.
• The pro-privacy movement led by some consumers will make it more difficult for retailers and vendors to understand behaviors of consumers. But this challenge is also an opportunity.

The bottom line is that data is a double-edge sword: it holds the secret to better understanding and serving the customer, but the sheer volume of data makes it a challenge to integrate and protect/secure it while identifying the kernels of wisdom and information which would spell out patterns and better anticipate and deliver actionable personalized solutions for retailers, vendors and customers alike. The market will continue to evolve as retailers open up to analytics, consumers keep raising the bar on what’s immediate and what’s personalized, vendors collaborate to dynamically deliver more sophisticated, integrated technology solutions, and entrepreneurs continue to innovate.

Resources:

• Wall St. Journal May 18, 2011 Article on Check Out the Future of Shopping covers mobile shopping gadgets http://on.wsj.com/j2uV06
• Our facilitator Adrian Ott , CEO of Exponential Edge Inc. and NAWBO's Silicon Valley's Enterprising Woman of the Year 2011 is also the author of The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy http://www.24hourcustomer.com The 24-Hour Customer, named a Best Business Book 2010 by Library Journal and Small Business Trends, provides a framework that helps businesses turn customer time and attention scarcity into a competitive advantage. The book demonstrates how to make your products and services more addictive through the use of key buying triggers and techniques that redirect customer attention and traction in your favor. To purchase your copy online, visit http://amzn.to/cJASOb.

FountainBlue's First Annual Business Analytics Trends Event was held on November 19 and featured:

Today's Business Analytics Innovations: An Update on What's New and What's Coming

  Facilitator Steve Adelman, Managing Partner, Gartner Consulting

  Panelist Anjul Bhambhri, VP, IBM Information Management Group

  Panelist John Buffi, Director, Business Intelligence and Data Integration Solutions, Cisco Systems Inc.

  Panelist Shivani Govil, VP of Strategy, Business Analytics Solutions, SAP

  Panelist Kristina Robinson, VP of Business Intelligence, HP

Applied Business Analytics in the Consumer, Clean Energy and Life Science Spaces

  Facilitator Sandy Orlando, VP of Marketing, SatoriTech, FountainBlue Program Adviser

  Panelist Amr Awadallah, Founder, VP of Engineering and CTO, Cloudera

  Panelist Melissa Karr, Vice President, Marketing, Brain Resource, Ltd

  Panelist Chris Meyer, Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, INXPO

  Panelist Brad Peters, CEO, Birst 

  Panelist Jeff Veis, Vice President, Industry Marketing and Strategic Initiatives

Please join me in thanking our hosts at SAP for their support for this event, and our ongoing series.

There is no question about the huge potential market in this space. Our panelists likened it to the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the way the goods are produced and delivered, the impact of the Model T and the way it made transportation affordable and available, to Southwest Airlines and the way it provided access to airplane flights to common users, or what Home Depot and WalMart did for retail. It's not that business analytics is new and hot. It's that it has been big and it's going to get much bigger! It's not that it's new and sexy; it has been around for a while, but with the advancements in hardware, software, networks, business models, and the range of opportunities ahead serving users in niche markets, the possibilities are mind-boggling.

We were fortunate to have such esteemed panelists speak to the trends in business analytics and its implications for business and personal users in their day-to-day lives. Given that we are in an age of information, where everyone is inundated by volumes of data, the panelists repeatedly emphasized the importance of making the data relevant and actionable and clean in order to make real-time business and personal decisions which would help maintain a competitive edge, best leveraging time. This is especially true because of the data itself:

• There's so much of it!
• It's coming from so many different sources and systems and places and formats.
• There are structured and unstructured data.
• Privacy issues and security of data is a huge consideration.

There is increasing pressure for entrepreneurial and corporate leaders at all levels to make the best business decisions in the short term and for the long term. Business analytics provides these leaders with the information to make these decisions, but because of all of the above and other factors, it is no easy task to massage information and make recommendations, reports, graphs etc. which help leaders make the right call based on evidence, real time.

Yet this is what's necessary to lead this in age of information. Our corporate panelists talked about the technology innovations which is making it possible to integrate the structured and unstructured data, as well as the governance, privacy and security implications around sharing, collecting and reporting on data, not to mention the demands for integrating data of many forms and types as the company expands and grows, particularly through M&As. The emphasis is on the needs of the user and the volumes of data he/she must consume and process in order to fuel quick and effective decision-making.

The audience was not as interested in the science and technology of HOW big-named corporations will conquer these technology hurdles. It's a given that we will follow our Silicon Valley track record of success and continue to innovate in this intriguing new area. The questions and comments were more around the people, processes and applications for business analytics solutions.

As such, our corporate panelists responded with the application of business analytics in the areas of crime management, traffic navigation, retail management, market analysis, etc. Indeed, the emphasis was on the mainstreaming of business analytics, so that the tools and solutions get into the hands of users who have never had access to these tools before, people who feared these tools even, for their perceived awkwardness of interface and intimidating price points. These users may associate 'business analytics' with scientists in white coats who produce 'clean' (well-validated, easily-integrated) data that is well-polished (with beautiful reports produced by newly-minted MBAs), and given to executives who make presentations on strategic direction based on this data. But stretching the definition and perception of business analytics beyond 'the China effect', used only on rare and special occasions, to the mundane, day-to-day applications for mainstream users will arguably have a larger impact on any business. And companies successful at getting these tools into the hands of these mainstream users and customers, and companies who provide a host of tools and services for these mainstream users and customers will have a clear edge over companies who still think that business analytics is for the elite and on special occasions.

It is clear from our program that the best companies are leveraging business analytics which would drive real-time decision-making for the users so they can increase revenue and increase business value. But it is certainly not just about the data, as it's about the business processes, program management, and people behind the data. It's about providing the information in a form (easy web or social media interface) and format (devices including mobile) that's easily usable to the customer. But it's also about optimizing for security and governance and across issues, strategically, upfront and on an ongoing basis, from the design phase, but also throughout the lifespan of an application, factoring in the evolution of the relationship of user/partner with your company/product.

Indeed, the democratization of data is empowering the user and impacting the role of IT within corporations, the offerings provided by companies, and the way business leaders are evolving their strategies based on the needs of the user. The agile, fast-moving company will offer solutions to users and analyzes how THEY are using the solutions, and continue to refine offerings based on the rapidly-evolving needs of the user, and with this progressively refined approach, better position themselves for success one niche customer at a time.

A challenge within corporations is that different groups will have different objectives and different suggestions and recommendations to executive management. Confusing enough as this is, executive management must also consider governance and security implications on top of these multiple, sometimes conflicting recommendations and reach a coordinated strategy, integrating the various divisions and teams across the organization, capitalizing on the business analytics opportunities ahead.

In addition, one of the obstacles to the massive adoption and proliferation of business analytics solutions for companies large and small is the lack of infrastructure and standards. There is a need for large companies to partner with each other and with smaller companies to create a standard, to write niche applications to target customers using the same standard, and to collaboratively work together to advance the standards, offerings and infrastructure, to better serve users, and help them help providers and analysts upgrade offerings and better serve user needs.

We are particularly good now at processing and analyzing data based on past trends and patterns, but leading edge thinking, technology and business models are also daring to tackle predictive trends and future modeling based on past data, and helping users think through and anticipate future scenarios based on current and past data. With the advances offered by our corporate and entrepreneurial speakers, this grand vision and goal is not as futuristic or as distant as you might think. Indeed, we are in the midst of a sea change, a change in the way we look at data, the way we view decision-making, the way we think and interact with others.

The pervasiveness of business analyst was glaring as our conversations ran from optimizing retail solutions which would help consumers more efficiently buy shoes, to measuring temperature in a bay or oil reserves in the land, to brain training for peak performance and lead generation based on avatar behavior in a virtual conference. With this huge range of options, the possibilities or leveraging business analytics are endless. Below are some tips from our panelists for leaders innovating in this space:

Focus on the User

• Design a jaw-dropping solution for the mainstream user.
• Speak to the needs of the users - the way they want to use tools, the format for communicating which works best for them. As such, social media, cloud, mobile applications and solutions should be a big part of your business analytics strategy and solution.
• The Millennial, FaceBook generation is driving the volumes of data out there, and tipping the balance toward more unstructured less private data.
• The more users we can empower, the bigger the impact for ALL users.

Be Strategic

• Look not just at the micro-trends and the obvious questions impacting you today, but also at the macro-trends and the questions you might not even think to ask.
• It's hard to escape the social and technology challenges of honoring the security and privacy of data. But perhaps layering personal data in aggregate form, much like Brain Resource is doing, will help users understand brain health and build to peak performance within compromising the privacy of any specific users' measured results on specific tests.
• What consumers and users do and how small companies serve and respond to that will trickle up/down to the enterprise much more than vice versa.
• The best business analytics solutions look not just at past trends, but at future predictions, allowing users to 'see around the corners'.
• As we build a new infrastructure to support exploding business analytics needs, there may be a need for a new fabric, a new format which would support both traditional data with columns and schema and unstructured data, perhaps with standardized tags. We already have the hardware/processing/memory capabilities as well as the bandwidth/network to support this infrastructure, so for forward-thinking, agile, collaborative leaders will capitalize on this opportunity.
• Partnering with companies just as Dunn & Bradstreet who value the data itself, and enticing them to leverage the data in a way which would benefit all would help advance the industry for all.

Be Practical

• Always consider the solution from the lens of the customer, and have different lenses for the different customers you serve.
• Make it easy for users to participate and add value for their participation. For example, it would be optimal to ask for as little information as possible (e.g. 15-40 questions online), and generate a valid report based on the input of a huge database of past users, leading to valid feedback with minimal user input.
• Follow the 80-20 rule and err on the side of action. You don't have to have the data 100% right, aim for 80% and iterate quickly to refine the predictions and recommendations.
• Generate baseline reports which users can respond to, rather than giving them a blank slate and asking for input about what would best meet their needs.
• It may appear that there is a lot of lower-hanging fruit in this promising area, however, as with anything worth having, there will be successes and failures as companies move the needle forward for the industry. Keep focusing on the ball, and driving value to the user, and look at the larger picture even if your company is experiencing setbacks.

The winners of the business analytics space will see this opportunity as a shift, and not a threat. They will be leaders and companies who can foster and lead collaboration between companies large and small, working with academic and customers and policymakers in bringing real-time to create cost-effective, value-added, actionable healthcare, retail, clean energy and other business solutions to users who can leverage it and draw value from it, while they shape the suite of offerings to increasingly larger user groups worldwide.

Information and Articles:

• INXPO Article: Virtual Events, Real Business Intelligence http://inxpo.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/virtual-events-real-business-intelligence/
• An ongoing conversation around this topic is available at http://www.quora.com/What-are-you-thoughts-on-business-analytics-trends

Steve Adelman, Senior Managing Partner, Gartner Consulting

Steve Adelman is a Senior Managing Partner at Gartner Consulting.  He develops strategies that are highly impactful and operationally feasible. Steve has led and advised leading and emerging high technology companies on go-to-market strategies, competitive assessments, partnerships, and investments and acquisitions.

Prior to Gartner he ran Nexus Partners, a Silicon Valley strategy consultancy.  Steve was also a consultant with Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Gemini Consulting.  Previous roles included VP, Corporate Development at Novell, President of Broadware (acquired by Cisco), EVP of Acquisitions and Investments at Reuters NewMedia and COO of Trademark Research Corporation (CCH); he started his career at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories. Steve received his MBA from the Wharton School, and a BS in Computer Science from Columbia University.  He was an adjunct professor in the School of Business and Management at USF and served in the Israeli paratroopers.

Dr. Amr Awadallah, Vice President, Engineering and co-Founder, Cloudera

Amr co-founded VivaSmart in June of 1999. Yahoo! acquired VivaSmart in June 2000, and uses the VivaSmart technology as the core of the Yahoo! shopping service. Amr served as Vice President of Engineering, and led a team that used Hadoop extensively for data analysis and business intelligence across the Yahoo! online services. Amr holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt, and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Darren Bruntz, Senior Director, Analytics Platform & Delivery, eBay

Darren has more than 20 years of experience in large-scale data warehousing and analytics, pioneering some of the first DBMS-based and file-based massively parallel platform solutions.  Darren has been with eBay for 7 years and is presently leading development and engineering services for the Analytics Platform & Delivery organization. Prior to eBay, Darren led various functions at AT&T Wireless, including enterprise architecture, internal systems development, and enterprise data warehousing.

John Buffi, Director, Business Intelligence and Data Integration Solutions, Cisco Systems, Inc.

John Buffi is Director, Business Intelligence and Data Integration Solutions within the BI and Data Services Organization at Cisco Systems.  He joined Cisco in 2007 and is responsible for delivering business intelligence (BI) and data integration solution across the organization.

Mr. Buffi has 23 years of experience in Information Technology with a focus on applications and business intelligence.  Supply Chain applications have been a focus area for a significant portion of his career using SAP products.  

Prior to joining Cisco, Mr. Buffi lead applications and BI teams at KLA-Tencor, BearingPoint, 3Com and Apple.

Mr. Buffi has a BS from the University of California at Santa Barbara in Computer Science.  Mr. Buffi lives in San Jose, California and enjoys spending time with his family, collecting wine and traveling.

Panelist Tobin Gilman, VP, BI & EPM Product Marketing, Oracle

Tobin Gilman is currently VP, BI & EPM Product Marketing at Oracle. Previously, he served as EPM Product Marketing at PeopleSoft, VP Product and Field Marketing at Docent, VP Strategic Marketing at Hyperion, Director, Product Marketing at Prism Solutions, and Sr. Manager, Product Management at Intergraph. He is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

Shivani Govil, VP of Strategy, Business Analytics Solutions, SAP

Shivani works with SAP's Corporate Strategy Group, in the Office of the CEO, where she is involved in developing the strategy and future vision for the company. Her expertise covers strategy, business development and alliances. Most recently, she was involved in developing the company's strategy for Sustainability and helped to launch a whole new organization within the company that enables customers be more socially, economically and environmentally responsible businesses.

Prior to SAP, Shivani worked in Corporate Development at Agile software and played an instrumental role in the acquisition of Agile by Oracle for $500M. She also managed key alliances with MSFT, IBM and others. Prior to that, Shivani held strategy and business development roles at mid-size and small startups, where she was involved with developing the company’s business plan, and ensuring execution against the plan. She began her career in management consulting, working with Andersen’s business consulting practice.

Shivani holds a master's degree in engineering from Princeton University, in conjunction with the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy. She received her undergraduate from the Indian Institute of Technology. She has also served as an advisor to the environmental ministry in India to help develop policies to reduce air pollution.

Panelist Sudha Jamthe, Social Media Strategist, PayPal

Sudha Jamthe is the Social Media Strategist at PayPal. She is passionate about innovative energy of communities, and specializes in partnerships that build ecosystems. She has 15yrs experience in marketing and has built social media infrastructure and communities for AOL/Bebo, Intuit, Dash Navigation (now RIM), Network World and built out the web business for Harcourt (now Reed Elseiver). She is a venture mentor at MIT and leads the Bay Area Facebook meetup and Twitter meetups. She has a MBA from Boston University. She blogs at coolastory.com and tweets as @sujamthe.

Melissa Karr, Vice President, Marketing, Brain Resource, Ltd

Melissa Karr has extensive international advertising and marketing experience, and integrates customer insights, brand strategy and marketing communications skills in her role as VP of Marketing for Brain Resource, Ltd.   Brain Resource has established the first and largest human brain database to make sense of the brain's complexities and provide a coherent model for measuring brain health. Prior to joining Brain Resource, Mrs. Karr served as account management with Young and Rubicam Advertising in the US and Europe, the Executive Director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam and as a marketing consultant to numerous life sciences start-ups. She received a BS in Marketing from Miami University and an MBA from Wayne State University.

Panelist Satya Kunapuli, Director - Research, Testing and Analytics at Intuit, Principal at Esskay Solutions Inc.

Satya Kunapuli is currently Director - Research, Testing and Analytics at Intuit, and Principal at Business Intelligence Consulting Firm Esskay Solutions Inc. Previously, he was Director of Business Intelligence at Adchemy, Chief Data Officer at Sidestep Inc. (Acquired by Kayak), and Sr. Manager, Business Intelligence at Yahoo! Inc. Prior to that, he was Senior Manager at Buena Vista Home Entertainment (The Walt Disney Company), ERP Consultant at Bugle Boy Industries, and Senior Software Engineer at Infosys Technologies and Jockey International. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University.

Melissa McDonell is a seasoned marketing professional with a passion for consumer insights. A fifteen year veteran of the fast food wars with YUM! Brands, Inc., she has experience in practically every aspect of the marketing mix, including broadcast and online media, direct mail, PR, merchandising, promotional partnerships, CRM and local guerilla marketing programs. McDonell spent a significant amount of her career in field marketing roles where she developed a keen understanding of both operations and franchisee management, playing a critical role in the restructuring of the Pizza Hut US business from 70% company-owned to 70% franchise ownership in a three-year period. Both new product and new concept development are also part of her skill sets, as well as international brand development for the KFC market in Northern Europe. She is fluent in German and conversant in French. McDonell holds a BA (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Texas, and an MBA from the UVA Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.

Sandy Orlando, High-Tech Marketing Executive

Sandy Orlando is the Vice President Marketing at SatoriTech. With more than twenty years of experience in high technology marketing and business development, she is driving the marketing strategy for this early stage IT Financial Management start-up.

Prior to joining SatoriTech, she was the Vice President and General Manager Wind River's JTAG and Compiler business where she led the successful turnaround, growing the business double market rate. Prior to Wind River, Sandy was the General Manager of Nortel's Enterprise Network and Service Management business where she led the strategy and product development for enterprise network and service management, including VoIP quality of service management. Sandy has also held a variety of marketing positions at Optimal Networks, Compuware, N.E.T, Ungermann-Bass, and Novell. Sandy has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from University of California, Santa Barbara and an MBA from Santa Clara University. She is also a program adviser for FountainBlue's high tech entrepreneur forums.

Facilitator Adrian Ott, CEO, Exponential Edge Inc. and Author, The 24-Hour Customer

Library Journal says Adrian Ott is, "revolutionizing marketing by adding the concept of time." She is the award-winning author of The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy which was named a Best Business Book 2010 by Library Journal and by Small Business Trends. She is also CEO of Exponential Edge Inc consulting. Adrian is a regular expert contributor to Fast Company and has been featured on Bloomberg TV, Fox News, and Forbes for her groundbreaking work. She keynotes frequently at client events, major universities, and industry groups such as TEDx.  She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley.

Brad Peters, CEO, Birst

Through his years of work helping to lead the Analytics group at Siebel Systems and his early work on on-demand software delivery, Brad became intensely aware of the limitations of current enterprise analytics offerings and the revolutionary power of the Software-as-a-Service model. Brad is excited to be bringing the power of advanced analytics to small and medium businesses that never had access before, as well as easing the reporting and analytics pain of managers everywhere.

Brad received an MS in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow and a California Microelectronics Fellow. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Kristina H. Robinson, Vice President and General Manager, Business Intelligence Solutions, HP Software & Solutions, Hewlett-Packard Company

Kris Robinson is vice president and general manager of Business Intelligence Solutions (BIS) at HP. She is responsible for maximizing HP BIS profit and revenue growth; driving the go-to-market, consulting and integration, and delivery functions to capture greater share in the business intelligence market; and the leadership of services, solutions and technology investments to ensure a superior customer experience for HP's top commercial and public sector customers worldwide. The keystone of Robinson' strategy is fostering a solution-focused culture that creates competitive differentiation for customers by delivering world-class consultancy, innovative technologies and solutions, and strategic alliances and partnerships that collectively solve real customer problems and deliver better business outcomes. For more than two decades, Robinson has helped customers in multiple industries transform their IT environments - yielding higher profit margins, increased workforce productivity and competitive gains in process efficiency.

Robinson has a long history of creating and leading world-class consultative sales and services organizations and has proven to be a thought-leader in the high tech industry. Her view is comprehensive and her action is precise. Prior to joining HP, Robinson spent 21 years at NCR, where she held numerous executive sales and marketing positions. Her primary responsibilities centered on developing and deploying growth strategies for high-opportunity markets, including financial services, insurance, healthcare and life sciences. Her leadership in the vertical sales, consulting and solutions portfolio for NCR's Teradata Data Warehousing division doubled business revenues in the organization in less than three years. Recognized as a change agent, Robinson has a talent for transforming organizations, and delivering exceptional and sustainable business results. She has a bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of Georgia in Athens, and a Master of Business Administration from Georgia State University.

Panelist Raj Sen, Group Manager, Multi-Channel Analytics, Adobe
Raj Sen has more than 15 years experience in customer experience management, CRM, business intelligence, net promoter, and customer loyalty & retention. Raj has a deep industry background in the financial services and telecom industries working in large enterprises such as AT&T, American Express and Wells Fargo, as well as enterprise software experience working for Oracle, Satmetrix and Adobe. Raj currently is responsible for marketing Adobe’s multi-channel customer analytics products. Raj holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BA from Haverford College.

Panelist Carol Snyder, Senior Industry Principal in the Financial Services division, SAP in North America

Carl Snyder is a Senior Industry Principal in the Financial Services division for SAP in North America. Carl came to SAP with more than 23 years in the banking industry. Most recently, he was the President of Zions Internet Banking at Zions Bank. Additionally, Carl was the EVP and Director of Retail Bank Operations for Zions Bancorporation – as well as holding other leadership positions at Zions.

Snyder is also an Adjunct Professor of Business Strategy and Operations Management at the University of Utah. Carl received an MBA from the University of Utah and an undergraduate degree from BYU. He also is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington.