The Savvy Manager's Guides – serie

Web Services, Service-Oriented Architectures, and Cloud Computing is a jargon-free, highly illustrated explanation of how to leverage the rapidly multiplying services available on the Internet. The future of business will depend on software agents, mobile devices, public and private clouds, big data, and other highly connected technology. IT professionals will need to evaluate and combine online services into service-oriented architectures (SOA), often depending on Web services and cloud computing. This can mean a fundamental shift away from custom software and towards a more nimble use of semantic vocabularies, middle-tier systems, adapters and other standardizing aspects.

This book is a guide for the savvy manager who wants to capitalize on this technological revolution. It begins with a high-level example of how an average person might interact with a service-oriented architecture, and progresses to more detail, discussing technical forces driving adoption and how to manage technology, culture and personnel issues that can arise during adoption. An extensive reference section provides quick access to commonly used terms and concepts.

Broad, non-technical explanation of a technical topic for managers at all levels Only web services book to cover data management and software engineering perspectives; excellent resource for all members of IT teams Provides a set of leadership principles and suggested applications for using this technology

Information Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage with Data is about making smart decisions to make the most of company information. Expert author William McKnight develops the value proposition for information in the enterprise and succinctly outlines the numerous forms of data storage. Information Management will enlighten you, challenge your preconceived notions, and help activate information in the enterprise. Get the big picture on managing data so that your team can make smart decisions by understanding how everything from workload allocation to data stores fits together.

The practical, hands-on guidance in this book includes:

Part 1: The importance of information management and analytics to business, and how data warehouses are used Part 2: The technologies and data that advance an organization, and extend data warehouses and related functionality Part 3: Big Data and NoSQL, and how technologies like Hadoop enable management of new forms of data Part 4: Pulls it all together, while addressing topics of agile development, modern business intelligence, and organizational change management

Read the book cover-to-cover, or keep it within reach for a quick and useful resource. Either way, this book will enable you to master all of the possibilities for data or the broadest view across the enterprise.

Balances business and technology, with non-product-specific technical detail Shows how to leverage data to deliver ROI for a business Engaging and approachable, with practical advice on the pros and cons of each domain, so that you learn how information fits together into a complete architecture Provides a path for the data warehouse professional into the new normal of heterogeneity, including NoSQL solutions

Whether you are brand new to data mining or working on your tenth predictive analytics project, Commercial Data Mining will be there for you as an accessible reference outlining the entire process and related themes. In this book, you'll learn that your organization does not need a huge volume of data or a Fortune 500 budget to generate business using existing information assets. Expert author David Nettleton guides you through the process from beginning to end and covers everything from business objectives to data sources, and selection to analysis and predictive modeling.

Commercial Data Mining includes case studies and practical examples from Nettleton's more than 20 years of commercial experience. Real-world cases covering customer loyalty, cross-selling, and audience prediction in industries including insurance, banking, and media illustrate the concepts and techniques explained throughout the book.

Illustrates cost-benefit evaluation of potential projects Includes vendor-agnostic advice on what to look for in off-the-shelf solutions as well as tips on building your own data mining tools Approachable reference can be read from cover to cover by readers of all experience levels Includes practical examples and case studies as well as actionable business insights from author's own experience