James Maguire

In the 1960s hit musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the hero J. Pierrepont Finch makes a dizzying ascent from window washer to chairman of the World Wide Wicket Company. His remarkable rise requires no great talent; he needs only a single tool: a self-help book. Now in 2018, blockchain technology is […]

When cloud computing first started gaining significant enterprise adoption around 2010 or so, it was hailed as a cost saver over in-house datacenters. And perhaps it still is, long term. Yet many industry pundits now praise cloud as a more effective, flexible system that offers competitive advantages, and requires greater expense. Whatever the case, the […]

It’s a topic that creates enormous challenges for companies of all sizes: data governance. We have all this data, how do we manage and govern it? Why, exactly, is data governance so difficult and – most important – is there any strategies to make it more manageable? To discuss that, I spoke with three thought […]

We’re told that artificial intelligence is the ultimate competitive business tool. Among the wonders it enables: it allows our software to learn, which in turns allows us to better serve customers – much better than those businesses using stodgy non-AI infrastructure. Yet questions abound about this emerging technology. To provide guidance, I spoke with Bryan […]

As companies analyze massive amounts of data from both their IoT network and their Big Data applications, knowing how to best handle these two data streams is critical. To provide guidance, I spoke with Bill Schmarzo, CTO of Dell EMC Services and Big Data. The topics we covered: 1) Big data analytics vs. IoT analytics […]

As cloud computing has become a core element of enterprise strategy, issues and confusions abound about this rapidly evolving technology. New tools, multi-cloud vs. hybrid cloud, a blizzard of options – there is no cookie cutter approach to cloud. To provide guidance, I spoke with three top professionals in the cloud industry. The topics we […]

By enabling software systems to adapt to changing input, machine learning offers a tremendous competitive advantage to companies that harness it. But how to best make use of machine learning? To provide guidance, I spoke with Jeff Erhardt, VP of Intelligent Systems, GE Digital. The topics we covered: 1) What exactly is machine learning, as […]

Venture capital funding is most often associated with an emphasis on rapid growth, with an eye toward a profitable exit for the venture funders. In contrast, James Joaquin, co-founder and managing director of Obvious Ventures, employs a strategy he calls ‘World Positive’ investing. The idea is to fund startups that are socially responsible, with a […]

Big Data offers enormous potential, promising greater business insight based on clear metrics instead of guesswork. Yet getting the most from your Big Data solution offers no small number of challenges. To provide guidance, I spoke with a thought leader in the field, Steve Stine, who’s recently taken the position of Chief Data Officer at […]

Simply deploying to the cloud is no longer enough. To get the maximum competitive edge, a company needs to fully integrate its cloud with an array of other enterprise tools, from mobile devices to APIs. To delve into this, I spoke with Jeff Burk, Director, Research and Development, Dell Boomi. Among the topics we covered: […]