P&G Business Sphere Wins Edison Silver Award

Quite a considerable accomplishment, built on work started years ago with innovation in Executive Information Systems.    Much more in this blog about Business Sphere:

" ... From a highly competitive pool of applicants, Procter & Gamble’s Business Sphere was selected as the Silver Winner in the “Innovative Services: Collaboration/Knowledge Management” category for the 2013 Edison Awards Competition. We received the award in Chicago on Thursday, April 25. Our groundbreaking Business Sphere environment and the supporting Business Sufficiency analytic models enable the Company to rapidly respond to changes in the marketplace and uncover new opportunities to improve the lives of consumers. Business Sphere – built and powered by P&G’s Global Business Services (GBS) organization – is a visually immersive, patent-pending data environment that transforms decision-making at P&G by harnessing real-time business information from around the globe.... " 

How Does a Big Enterprise Deliver Data?

How does a big enterprise like Procter & Gamble securely deliver data in near real time to its decision makers?   By using a system like Business Sphere, an internally developed method of data acquisition and delivery.   How do you now get those complex data visualizations to environments as disparate as the smartphone, laptop, tablet and wall projection?   As I understand it, now available to other enterprises.   The idea started many years ago with our early experiments with executive information systems and well designed but less than successful efforts like Metaphor Computer Systems.     

I have looked at Business Sphere and talked to its developers and it is impressive.    As they describe it:  " ...  Procter & Gamble’s groundbreaking Business Sphere environment and Business Sufficiency analytic models enable the Company to be rapidly responsive to changes in the marketplace and uncover new opportunities to improve the lives of consumers. Business Sphere—built and powered by P&G’s Global Business Services (GBS)—is a visually immersive data environment that transforms decision-making at P&G by harnessing real-time business information from around the globe ... " 

BOI Solutions: Groundbreaking Business Intelligence Delivery

Brought to by attention again.  The excellent and unique work done by BOI Solutions. Addressing  enterprise needs that have been expressed by executives and employees for many years.



" ... Procter & Gamble’s groundbreaking Business Sphere environments enable rapid response to changes in the marketplace and uncover new opportunities to improve the lives of consumers. 
Business Sphere built and powered by P&G’s Global Business Services (GBS) is a visually immersive data environment that transforms decision-making at P&G by harnessing real-time business information from around the globe. By eliminating the delay of manually collecting and aggregating data, this patent-pending business intelligence system improves productivity and collaboration, simplifies work processes, reduces the decision-making cycle time, and enables P&G to focus on innovating for the consumer. ... " 

Focusing Effort with Data, Leveraging it with Analytics

In preparation now for a talk to local executives on the use of analytics in the enterprise I reviewed some of the work done with Business Sphere.   Its been some thirty years since I arrived at a global soap company, degree and government experience in hand,  to see how I could help them with improving their manufacturing and supply chain.  I finished my direct work there thirty years later, with a three year hiatus in a startup.

Analytics then was called Operations Research, and we applied the mathematics and the principles of the approach in many places.  Early on we were introduced to the concept of focus, and how systems could provide that ability at every level of the company.  One of the first examples we explored was how the top executives used computing power.  At the time it was unheard of for executives to have computers available directly to them, it was their admin people than ran their email, made sure they got the right reports, and were altered to key issues by phone call.

In those first efforts, we worked with the CEO to develop a method by which he would get information he needed for specific tasks.  We had not yet reached a world where we could organize information to make it easily and directly usable by the decision maker.  Make it as easy as possible to do their job with the right data.

Then, years later, as software and hardware became pervasive and mobile, a key extension was understood.  People work as individuals, and in multiple groups.  So why not give every person, every group, of any size, from new hire to CEO, the right data to do their job?  This gives you the advantage of doing their job, with the right data, as efficiently as possible.  It was also discovered that this would also focus their jobs in new ways.   Data can drive the work.  Analytics can be added to sculpt and leverage  the data.   The work is not done, it continues to move on under new names and implementations.  Stay tuned for new progress.

For more about this see my previous writings about what is now called Business Sphere.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Business of Artificial Intelligence

 Good statement of expectations, what it is doing, what has been promised, delivered and not,  and where it needs to go.  As a practitioner, I have seen it all to date. ...  It needs care,  caution and closer links to business needs to make it feasible.

Business of AI

By Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew Mcafee in the HBR

Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn) is the director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, the Schussel Family Professor of Management Science at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a research associate at NBER. His research examines the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and performance, digital commerce, and intangible assets. At MIT he teaches courses on the economics of information and the Analytics Lab.

The Business of Artificial Intelligence

What it can — and cannot — do for your organization

In the sphere of business, AI is poised have a transformational impact, on the scale of earlier general-purpose technologies. Although it is already in use in thousands of companies around the world, most big opportunities have not yet been tapped. The effects of AI will be magnified in the coming decade, as manufacturing, retailing, transportation, finance, health care, law, advertising, insurance, entertainment, education, and virtually every other industry transform their core processes and business models to take advantage of machine learning. The bottleneck now is in management, implementation, and business imagination. ....


Like so many other new technologies, however, AI has generated lots of unrealistic expectations. We see business plans liberally sprinkled with references to machine learning, neural nets, and other forms of the technology, with little connection to its real capabilities. Simply calling a dating site “AI-powered,” for example, doesn’t make it any more effective, but it might help with fundraising. This article will cut through the noise to describe the real potential of AI, its practical implications, and the barriers to its adoption.  ...." 

P&G Control Tower for Holistic Optimization

In Forbes, by Steve Banker:  Further examination of the evolution of the Business Sphere.   The control tower metaphor is new to me, with an implication of more real time operations.  Interesting  numbers included.

" ..... They are looking for a “fully interconnected platform” that delivers “holistic optimization.”  If they can get to a “real-time instrumented supply chain,” P&G believes the upside is a 1-2% sales increase, 2-5% margin improvement, and 5-10% improvements in asset utilization.  (See Procter & Gamble Speaks at the 3PL Summit).

But what could a real-time instrumented supply chain actually be?  Some hints are starting to emerge. One thing it appears to mean is a cross functional control tower that exists in a “visually immersive data environment.”  P&G does not call it a control tower, they call it a Business Sphere. But if you read the description, and look at some pictures, it sure looks like a control tower environment. ... " 

Data Culture and Business Sphere Focus

In Ars Technica:  The idea of a 'data culture' is something that Microsoft is promoting now ...  " ... Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was in San Francisco today to talk about data and Microsoft's data platform. Nadella repeatedly spoke of Microsoft's "data culture"—using data and analytics to enable employees to get the information they need to understand their work, answer questions, and make decisions. ... " 

This sounds a lot like the approach we emphasized as a key element of what we called the 'Business Sphere'.  ...  Getting the right data and analytics to the right people at the right time. A means of making decisions in a focused and correct manner. Providing efficiency and value. Based on data.

I agree, this should be fundamental.  Microsoft, call me and we can discuss this.

Shrinking Organization Charts: Replaced by Data Patterns

Thoughts on the shrinking org chart.   Interesting and lengthy piece.   Key thoughts, yes, it is shrinking, but it is still as complex.  Parts of it are now being replaced by patterns in data.   All we need to do is find them.  Or at least know they might exist.

A pointer is made to the HBR article on P&G's Business Sphere effort.  Which is not quite on point to what was being talked about, but certainly could be.

See much more on the Business Sphere effort at the tag link below.

Flexible Workplaces and the New Mobile World

In SMB Resource:  This article was brought to my attention recently.  It struck home because I have been working with companies that are increasingly specifying mobile data and analytics delivery.   It is expected that their executives and many other decision makers will be on the road, talking to consumers, customers and suppliers, and integrating captured insights. So mobile and inherently flexible workplaces are required.  The mobile workplace is here, the technology is ready, its just the people that need to understand how they fit in.

The article uses the recent Yahoo case of Marissa Mayer requiring employees to spend more time at work.  It asks the question: Does Work Get Done, Even if No One is Watching?  Well yes,  the modern office has been extended far beyond the physical office world.   Stating it otherwise:  that Some Work Cannot be Done with All People Watching.  In a social, mobile and volatile world the workers need to get out there and to understand the environment their companies are working in.

Sure, this does not cover all jobs and responsibilities.  As we also quickly discovered there was great social value in getting people together face-to-face on a regular basis. Measures of progress and completion of work need to be captured, verified and shared. Technologies like instant on video conferencing enhanced the feeling of being a group working together.  Group oriented data virtualization, like that used in Business Sphere, can also build group identity and focus.

We experiment with these ideas by first experimenting with these ideas among people that were already located apart, or were mostly on the road.  This allowed us to understand the dynamics of the idea in a given company context, then extend it to other groups.  Even technologies like gamification were experimented with to improve group engagement.

The article suggests that performance be enhanced by 1.) Connecting through the cloud  2.) Enhancing Social Collaboration and 3.)  Have a Mobile Strategy.  And covers a number of details involved.  Well done.

This is even more valuable to the small and medium size business,  especially when a SMB has to connect with the consumer and outside suppliers.  That work can be done, and often has to be done outside the traditional office.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

P&G Decision Cockpit Detailed

P&G's CIO Filippo Passerini provides some detail about P&G's long in development Decision Cockpit, the brains behind the Business Sphere information delivery approach mentioned here previously.   " ... Sometimes you have to put the cart before the horse, according to Filippo Passerini, Procter & Gamble's Business Services Group President and CIO. That's how the consumer products giant came up with a decision-support environment now used by more than 60,000 employees worldwide to see what's happening in the business, why it's happening, and how to respond to changing market conditions. ...   At the IW500 Conference, P&G's Filippo Passerini demos analytic dashboards used to forecast performance and drive the right decisions....   " 

Twitter as the Ultimate Business Intelligence Tool?

Twitter as a Business Intelligence tool? I can see see the idea of tweets acting as a continuous interaction of interest and attention  that can determine what is happening throughout a business sphere.  If the right kind of intelligence sensors are available to measure what is happening in space and time.  And then allow the results to be simulated forward and backward to determine the sensitivity of the system itself.  I can see that as BI.

Examining SAP's Lumira

During the early phases of Data Visualization we took a look at a number of solutions.    SAP was the ERP solution for the enterprise, so we looked at their Business Objects solution for what we called business intelligence then, and is still used in delivery developments like P&G's Business Sphere, tied to developments (and hyped) methods like Big Data,

I was unaware of the details of SAP's Lumira, took a quick look at a demo last year, but have just started to get a deeper look.  I like the implication of storyboarding solutions, but not yet seen how that links to the decision process.   Here briefly described:   " ... With businesses spanning across various new and innovative functions, SAP AG is also evolving at every stage and their latest product the SAP Lumira proves nothing less of this evolutionary growth.  ... SAP Lumira is simply put a data visualization tool which proves to be one of the best available in the market today. Developed from the family of SAP AG, SAP Lumira enables you to combine your data into visualizations in the form of storyboards and organize this data in a more meaningful way. ... " 

Send me any thoughts you have on Limira and I will publish them.  Want to tell me more or do a proof of concept, contact me.

Alexa in the Office

Have had many conversations about how Alexa and other skill/voice/attentive systems could be used in the office.    How could it have been used to link with our 'Business Sphere' data visualization space for executive decisions?  See link below about the plans as known.  Via Walter Riker.

In TechCrunch today:
" .... The interface is evolving. What has long been dominated by screens of all shapes and sizes is now being encroached upon by the voice. And while many companies are building voice interfaces — Apple with Siri, Google with Assistant, and Microsoft with Cortana — none are quite as dominant as Amazon has been with Alexa.

At the AWS reinvent conference, Amazon will announce Alexa for Business, according to the WSJ. The new platform will let companies build out their own skills and integrations for both practical and business use cases. .... 

Just as developers can build skills for Amazon Echo users, businesses can now build out Alexa skills for use within their own company. You could imagine voice access to an employee directory, Salesforce data on various clients and accounts, or company calendar information. .... " 

Whats New on Lafley's List?

In AdAge:  I liked the fact that his predecessor, Bob McDonald, seemed to be emphasizing the analytical in finding ways to improve business.  Yet they soon found that there was little real support for new or sustained capabilities.  Business Sphere was one good example of value, but not taken far enough.   Wall street was not impressed.   Had worked with Lafley and his people and he is a true innovator, so liked his direction.  Very traditionally marketing directed.  Now has quite a challenge in front of him.  Find new, really profitable billion dollar brands.    But as AdAge asks, what is really new here?

TIBCO Spotfire for Developers

Brought to my attention.  TIBCO Spotfire for Developers by Manuel Xavier

Order the book here in various formats.

Looks to be of interest, have yet to see any book on Spotfire, which we used for Business Sphere visualizations. I will review more completely in the coming weeks.

They write:
" ...  An introduction to the TIBCO Spotfire world, covering the main concepts and features of the platform in a very fast-paced style. From the installation procedure to the loading of heterogeneous data and the creation and manipulation of several visualization types, you will gain hands-on experience with this very powerful analytics tool.

Starting by introducing you to the platform and its architecture, this helpful guide will show you how to install a standalone working environment. You will then learn about data loading and visualization creation, using several graph types, and also journey through the features of filtering, data preparation, transformation, and layout definition. Finally, you will master library creation and deployment, as well as web player usage. With this book, you will become familiar with all the required functionalities and concepts to start working with the Spotfire technology.... 

A fast-paced, step-by-step guide to creating, manipulating and deploying analytical visualizations using the TIBCO Spotfire Platform  ... You are expected to know the basics of business intelligence, but no prior knowledge of TIBCO Spotfire is required. ... " 

Executive and Digital

Interesting thoughts.  Our own work with executives showed that the good approaches were to give execs direct access to the capabilities that are part of digital.   That requires new design, access to data, integrated corporate knowledge, virtual assistants, 'Business Sphere' and more.   I have written about that here, see the tags below. And in the coming decades this will evolve towards augmentation by cognitive AI to be available at every level.

Executive Development Programs Enter the Digital Vortex: I. Disrupting the Demand Landscape
by Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY — The informational and computational “tectonic shifts” of the past decade—enabling sharing, transacting, collaborating, and learning online—have created new challenges for executive development programs, in part by making visible to both buyers and sellers the specific objectives of participants and their organizations. Drawing on interviews with sponsoring organizations and participants in executive education at Harvard Business School, this study examines what learners and organizations want from executive development and maps the sources of value and drivers of demand for executive development. ... " 

Active Intelligence

Brought to my attention: Active Intelligence by Teradata.  Might this be usable for applications like P&G's Business Sphere?  " .... Teradata's customers lead the way on innovative uses of active data to drive business value. These 3 overviews will not only educate you but provide ample evidence why going Active pays off. The most popular uses of Active Intelligence are to provide Active Dashboards, Active Customer Management/Sales/Service and Active Operations. The other tabs provide details. ... " 

Find Critical Business Data Fast

In CWorld:  This was part of our mantra in the enterprise with Business Sphere applications.  " ... These CIOs are jumping on a fast-moving trend — mining small data sets to deliver valuable insights quickly to the right people at the right time. ... "   But I add to that a few more requirements.   ' ... Get the right data to the right people at the right time ...'   And that includes required augmentation to the data ... metadata ... analytical predictions ... related expertise .... cognitively driven advice.  Currently involved in several projects that are using these ideas.

A Cisco App for Collaboration

In CWorld: The Cisco App is being positioned as Freemium.  Will also be interesting to see how this is connected to some of its hardware solutions.  See also its similarities to P&G's Business Sphere.

" ... Cisco crashes the enterprise mobile party with new collaboration app
Cisco will package and deliver enterprise collaboration capabilities via a mobile and Web app built to replicate the ease of use of consumer software but designed for ad hoc, workplace team interaction. 
The app, called Project Squared, joins a growing number of "consumerized" enterprise mobile and Web apps built by startups and designed to put a spin on collaboration, messaging, productivity, video conferencing and communications. .. 

Some of those include Cotap for enterprise mobile messaging, Quip for word processing and spreadsheets, Slack for chat room-like communication, SmartSheet for project and task management and Vidyo and Blue Jeans Network for cloud-based video conferencing. .... 

A beta version of Project Squared is being announced at Cisco's Collaboration Summit on Monday and made available for free download for iOS and Android devices. The app, which will also be available for MacOS computers and whose Web version works on Chrome, Firefox and Safari, lets users communicate via text chat, audio and video, hold multi-party meetings and share content. ... " 

Major Urban Data Observatory

Interesting concept, in Venturebeat:  A means to observe and compare data about major cities.  And I hope visualizing related analytics.   Sounds akin to work that was done with P&G's Business Sphere.

TED co-founder Richard Saul Wurman’s Urban Observatory is now a virtual reality.  [ I will look into this deeper and report more here ]

The Urban Observatory is a multi-media interactive exhibit culled from big data that is displayed on screens to let viewers compare and contrast data from the world’s largest cities. Fifty-five of the world’s largest metropolitan cities shared their data to create what Wurman is calling the globe’s first real public observatory.

The observatory is being unveiled today at the Esri User Conference in San Diego. Wurman produced the project with geographic information systems provider Esri. Early next year, in February 2015, the Urban Observatory will make its way to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, where the exhibit will be permanently housed. .... "