Blog Category
Data-driven Cement
Apr. 21, 2011—When I think of cement, I don’t think about complex data analytics. This week at our Roundtable in Zurich, I realized how analytics have become part of every business. Our tour of Holcim’s cement facility became a vivid example for the Roundtable discussion. Cement production uses an extremely high-temperature (2000C) process to transform raw minerals...
New Shopping Experiences w/ Social Media & Augmented Reality
Apr. 7, 2011—We just finished a fascinating report that examines the impact of mobile apps on traditional shopping. Researchers Neil Davis T’11 and Kathryn Malinick T’11 document how social media and augmented reality can create exciting new shopping experiences. My biggest takeaways are: 1. Brick-and-mortar retailers should not neglect the potential of mobile technologies to drive foot...
Lunch with Mike LaJoie (CTO, Time Warner Cable)
Mar. 30, 2011—Today I hosted Mike LaJoie (CTO, Time Warner Cable) for one of our CDS Tech lunches. Mike showed off TWC’s cool new ipad app that lets cable users watch their favorite shows anywhere in their home. Released two weeks ago, the app has been a huge hit with over 300,000 downloads this month and has...
Virtualizing Fulfillment Operations – Physical Clouds allow Amazon to Scale
Mar. 2, 2011—Thanks to my friends at the POMS Supply Chain College, I visited Amazon’s Fulfillment Center (Fernley NV) this week. It is an amazing operation shipping 100,000 items on a routine day and over 400,000/day during peak holiday season. While not the most automated facility I have seen, the Fernley Center has embraced a level of...
Insight on technology and life from SAP Co-CEO Bill McDermott
Feb. 8, 2011—I had the great fortune to host Bill McDermott (SAP’s Co-CEO) during his visit to Tuck this week. As the largest enterprise software firm on the planet, SAP faces many challenges and opportunities. Bill tackled hard student questions head-on with a warm, authentic personality that captivated the Tuck community. Here are my three takeaways: As...