In June’s Book of the Month, we’re reading Doug Needham’s “Data Structure Synthesis.” The tagline on the book is “Boosting Productivity Through Data Structure Reuse.” Ultimately, the book is about combining the mathematical truths of set theory and applying that to data modeling, but all wrapped together in an adventure with the author. Needham starts the […]
Deconstructing Knowledge Graphs and Large Language Models
While knowledge graphs (KGs) and large language models (LLMs) each offer distinct strengths, their full potential is most effectively realized when synergized in combination. LLMs bring powerful generative capabilities with broad understanding of language but lack structured context and factual grounding needed for consistent accuracy and reasoning. Knowledge graphs, on the other hand, provide a […]
Achieving Successful Outcomes: Why AI Must Be Considered an Extension of Data Products
In many organizations, AI exists as a secret weapon. It’s essentially locked away in a box, brought out to work on a limited use case, and then put back into the box. However, using AI in this limited fashion eliminates the huge potential impact that AI can have across one’s business. This is where DataOps, short […]
Protecting Machine Learning Systems in the GenAI Era
As GenAI and machine learning (ML) become more widespread across industries, their high levels of adoption have created a major challenge: security. While every organization and IT team has its own security protocols and frameworks, many are starting to realize that traditional approaches aren’t enough when it comes to protecting themselves from the potential threats […]
Why Your Chatbot Is Underperforming – And the Must-Have Capabilities to Turn It Around
More and more organizations are adopting generative AI (GenAI)-powered chatbots that have the power to streamline operations by automating repetitive tasks to improve efficiency and lead to faster, data-driven decisions. The capabilities of these chatbots to achieve greater accuracy are continually expanding, raising the standard for them to deliver more precise outputs that effectively harness […]
Data Governance: Building a Strong Foundation
The first time I was introduced to data governance, someone handed me a thick binder labeled “Data Policies.” It sat on my desk untouched for months. No one referred to it. No one followed it. It was a perfect symbol of what goes wrong when governance is reduced to paperwork without purpose. True data governance […]
DataOps and Scalability: The One-Two Punch for Creating Successful Data Products
Data products are proliferating in the enterprise, and the good news is that users are consuming data products at an accelerated rate, whether it’s an AI model, a BI interface, or an embedded dashboard on a website. The bad news is that too many data engineering teams still rely on manual methods to keep these […]
Analytics in the Trenches: Tactical Approaches for Robust Data Insights
Anyone who’s spent time in the analytics trenches knows that reading about data frameworks is one thing – building dashboards that influence boardroom decisions is another beast entirely. While the white papers and conference talks have their place, real impact happens on the ground, where teams are wrestling with messy datasets, inconsistent reporting tools, and ever-shifting […]
How Self-Service Analytics Reduces Dependence on Data Teams
A self-service analytics tool should allow non-technical team members to explore analytical data, even without prior experience with business intelligence tools or knowledge of the underlying data. It should have an intuitive interface, allowing users to explore and visualize data in various ways to gain relevant insights. By no means should it require assistance from […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: Is Consent the Wrong Approach for Modern Data Regulation?
Asking for consent to collect and use someone’s data as the basis for legitimate processing of that data is key to our data privacy regulations and is also ethical. However, many people agree that consent is broken and that we don’t really have meaningful consent given the power imbalances between big tech organizations and the […]