DataFlux

Mike Ferguson's Blog Channel

A Word From Mike

After much persuasion I have finally decided to enter the world of blogging on Data Management so a very warm welcome to my blog. Being based in Europe, I hope to add a slightly different slant on the problems and solutions of data management or at least give you an idea of what is happening this side of the pond. In all my 26 years in the industry I have never known a time when the interest in data management has been so high. Business demand is coming in from all aspects of the business driven by compliance, demand for more data in BI systems, the need to migrate data, the need to get control of quality, manage unstructured data and solve the increasingly complex problem of data synchronisation. So it’s an exciting time but also a time where it’s easy to get buried in complexity given the size of the problem that some organisations are dealing with.

As an independent analyst and consultant I am now swamped with client request around data governance, master data management, data quality, metadata management and data integration. We are without doubt in an era where this problem has been elevated to the “enterprise” level rather than just languishing in some line of business. So I look forward to sharing experiences with you.

I made my first visit this year to the DataFlux User Conference in Orlando where I had the privilege of meeting many DataFlux customers. I look forward to the next one where I am sure the numbers of delegates will have grown even more given the demands business is placing on its data professionals to manage data.

What about me I hear you say? My background is all data. 26 years of it. I started out as a programmer but very quickly gravitated to the world of data by becoming a DBA. In the mid 80’s I got the opportunity to co-found the European Division of Codd and Date working with the pioneers of the relational model Dr Ted Codd and Chris Date. These people changed the world of data with all the popular relational products we know today stemming from this pioneering work. It was a great privilege to work there. I spent nearly four years at Codd and Date before moving to Teradata as a Chief Architect on the Product Strategy and Architecture team based out of Los Angeles. Then about 15 years ago my old friend Colin White persuaded me to join him at what was then DataBase Associates where we worked on data centric problems such as data warehousing, business intelligence, business integration and all aspects of data management. I have remained there ever since although I renamed the company about 4 years back to Intelligent Business Strategies. Today we specialise in services and education on enterprise data management, business intelligence and business integration.

About The Author

Mike Ferguson is Managing Director of Intelligent Business Strategies Limited. As an analyst and consultant he specialises in business intelligence and enterprise business integration. With over 26 years of IT experience, Mike has consulted for dozens of companies on business intelligence strategy, technology selection, enterprise architecture, enterprise portals, business process integration, SOA and data integration. He has spoken at events all over the world and written numerous articles. Mike is a resident expert on the Business Intelligence Network, providing articles, blogs and his insights on the industry. Formerly he was a principal and co-founder of Codd and Date Europe Limited – the inventors of the Relational Model, a Chief Architect at NCR on the Teradata DBMS and European Managing Director of Database Associates. He teaches popular Enterprise 2.0 master classes in Operational Business Intelligence and Performance Management, Master Data Management, Service Oriented Architecture and Enterprise Portals.