Awesome!!!
There is a reason why I carry a paper notebook and pencil in my laptop bag.
Tag: Dan Meyer
I Always Say… Data Science Is Just As Much Art As It Is Science!
“A data scientist is that unique blend of skills that can both unlock the insights of data and tell a fantastic story via the data.” … that’s a quote by DJ Patil, who is generally considered one of the world’s top data scientists.
The term data scientist has really taken off in the analytics world the past few years and the number of job postings, college courses and certifying bodies continues to rocket upwards. Here in the Philippines I am starting to see a number of analytics gurus using that title and have even started seeing some of the bigger BPOs look for skills sets inline with this type of title,
However, even the most veteran data geeks, have a hard time really determining what role data scientist can play in the BPO industry and to what level you can set up outsourcing team to do data science… aka analytics… aka data-driven decision-making. Its really, quite a wide open topic without a lot of clear guidance trickling down into the industry here.
That will change. And it will change quickly. The number of analytics trainings and data-centric conferences and college course geared towards data science careers is exploding. In fact i will be speaking at two of events of this kind later this month. One geared to college students looking into analytics careers and one for a cross section of practitioners looking for deeper understanding of the analytics environment.
To that end, I wanted to share a few visuals that I will be using in my presentations… both with a slant towards guiding students towards the right analytics career for them.
The first is a great visual showing the diverse skills a true data scientist needs to be awesome. Source: http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/the-22-skills-of-a-data-scientist
The second is a a great way to show what data geeks really need to become data rock stars. Source: http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/are-you-a-data-scientist
Patience Is A Virtue
Per the dictionary… patience (noun) = the ability to wait calmly; the capacity to accept delay without getting angry | virtue (noun) = a quality or trait that most people consider to be morally good or desirable in a person.
The past two weeks have been a consistent reminder that those who can exercise patience generally are those who succeed and those who can not exercise patience are much less likely to succeed.
The past two weeks have also reminded me that having patient people surround you is much more preferable to having impatient people around you.
Life moves fast and we all get caught up in the rush, but when you find those who can still find it in themselves to exercise patience… keep them close.
Book Review > See-Saw-Sell by Jonathan Petalver
My good friend Jonathan “the Sales Champ” Petalver has just authored a book for both seasoned sales professionals and first time sales people. The book’s tagline… Killer-Instinct Mindset to Sell More and Win More, says it all. In short the book is about 50 pages of easy to understand and even easier to implement sales strategies that make sense to anyone familiar with sales or not.
One of the very first things the author does is establish the belief that sales is as much a science as an art. For most sales professionals, being good is just not something you learn but something you are born with and nurture. By showing both the art and the science behind sales, Petalver blows past that myth and shows how anyone can learn sales is they devote as much time to studying data and analysis as they do to talking.
Throughout the rest of the book, readers are empowered with a number of very memorable sales strategies that stick in your head. My favorite is the concept of “ness”… everyone has a “ness” about them that is unique to themselves. Learning how to channel this “ness” into a sales tool is something truly eye opening. My “Dan-ness” harnesses my love for analytics and my passion for teaching and can make me a very powerful and persuasive sales person for the right audience.
Another of my favorite things about this book is Jonathan’s promotion of analytics… using the data in and around a sales process to make more data-driven decisions. So few sales pros really get how data can be a powerful tool… but the ones who do are much more successful. Having seen firsthand how Wells Fargo’s top sales people are constantly looking at sales data and market analysis to find opportunities taught me the value of really paying more attention to the science side of sales.
Overall, the See-Saw-Sell is a great read, full of easy to digest strategies that will add a lot of value to not just sales pro and newbies to sales, but just about anyone who is in a customer facing position who wants to do more than just close a deal, but to build a deep and long-lasting relationship with their clients.
If any of you followers or readers of this blog need some sales guidance, Jonathan Petalver is the Sales Champ you need in your corner.
Analytics Returns $13.01 for Every Dollar Spent
Business Analytics Returns $13.01 for Every Dollar Spent, Up from $10.66 Three Years Ago, Nucleus Research
Finds > http://www.sys-con.com/node/3189704
This is not surprising to someone who has spent the better part of a decade learning about everything possible related to analytics.
Over the past couple of years I have successfully consulted and partnered with a number of small call centers based in the Philippines. Most of my assistance has come in the form of analytics training and consulting, with a focus on making more data-driven decisions and optimizing reporting processes.
Please Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/dmaiph to see what our team members and customers say about DMAI.
You can also follow my blog at http://www.dmaph.wordpress.com to learn more about our mission and purpose… to empower better decision-making through analytics.
For a free consultation, please connect with us via the above channels or send an email to analytics@dmaiph.com
Choose Not To Get Involved? Then You Really Have No Right To Complain
A good friend and key business partner, Penny Bongato, recently authored the cover story for the AmCham Journal’s September 2014 issue.
I wanted to share some highlights form one of the foremost thought leaders of industry-academe collaboration here in the Philippines.
“Industry. The Academe. When have they ever been in harmony? Some academics say “Leave the teaching to us. We will produce the graduates you need.” Industry however claims that the academe is not producing the quality graduates they need.
Meanwhile, the academe complains that Industry has not been very forthright in articulating what it is exactly that they require of the graduate I believe our expectation is that Academe is supposed to produce employable graduates.
With the challenges businesses face today (i.e., changing technology, fierce competition, and especially globalization) there is not much room or time to train the new employee, similar to the kind of new employee training we had decades ago. If industry continues to harbor this expectation, the often cited phenomenon called the Jobs versus Skills mismatch will keep getting wider.
We have complained about this for decades. In this scenario, what would Industry’s role be? In the four years that I have been with the IT & Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP), I have personally witnessed instances of true collaboration between the ITBPM industry, where I belong, and the academe.”
This area of industry-academe collaboration is one of my passions, long ago seeing a greater need to prepare Filipino students for BPO careers. One of the first people I made a point of befriending when I moved to the Philippines to set up my business was Penny. Since we first met over three years ago we have been able to work on several projects together, including me being sent by BPAP to speak in front of students about careers in the BPO industry. Besides speaking to students, I have made a point to recruit students and fresh grads as trainees, OJT and even as employees because I recognize the need to help move this collaboration along.
As Benedict Hernandez, IBPAP’s Chairman of the Executive Committee, CCAP President and the Head of Accenture BPO said, “If you [as a member of the IT BPM industry] choose not get involved, you really have no right to complain.”
I also believe this to be so true! So as both a regular guest lecturer in academe and an owner of a BPO company, I call on my brothers and sister in both arenas to stop complaining and start acting. In the end, the ultimate beneficiary of this is our students… aka our future!
Thanks so much Penny, for sharing these incredible insights and challenging us all to up our game in a time of great national need.
Teamwork Is Not Easy… And Here Is Why
I came across a couple of visual yesterday on LinkedIn that made me think a lot about how complex it can be to have a group of people really working as a team.
The first image is a pretty straightforward visual of how a people going in the same direction can help each other out in the common interest to complete a task.
Being able to count on your team mates to carry you though a rough patch, to help you avoid dangerous mistakes, to conquer a problem bigger then one person… so many concepts of teamwork can be drawn from a simple image.
But if the benefits of working a team and not a collection of individuals is so important, why do so many team fail?
This second image provides an illustration of all the character traits a person needs to be truly successful. Look how many of them have to do with how you interact with people on your team.
For a team to really work efficiently, its members have to be able to share both risk and reward, they have to be both comfortable and confident in who they are and they have to be willing to trust and take leaps of faith.
When you have a team full of people who like being on a team, you will be successful. On the other hand, when you have a team full of people who don’t really like being on a team, you will be a lot less successful.
A Few More Internet Research Tips
Just wanted to share a few more tips from my presentation on Mastering Internet Research:
Additional considerations to make before you start your search:
1. Where should you search? Google is not the only answer. There are over a trillion web sites out there and its growing every day. The IMDB is a much better place to get movie info then a google search.
2. How will you plan your search? Setting parameters is a big key to being a master internet researcher. Besides setting aside a certain amount of time, you can also give yourself boundaries on the number of sources you need and the type of content you want to find.
3. How will you evaluate the sources? Making sure the data you find is accurate is so key. Looking at reliable sources, validating data with a second reference and comparing your findings to published works are good ways to avoid bad data.
Some final tips to be a master internet researcher:
4. Use Find or Ctrl-F to Help Navigate Search Results– Often it is difficult to understand why a site is retrieved in a search. The Find or Ctrl-F feature will quickly allow you to search the text of a site and locate specific keywords.
5. When Using Wikipedia – View a Page’s History
All Wikipedia pages’ edits are saved, and the site makes it easy to view changes.
If you’re interested in seeing a page’s history, simply click the “View history” tab on the top right of any page. As well as seeing recent edits, you can click “Compare selected revisions” to see then-and-now versions of the content.
Internet Research Tips
About to do a training for some of my team on how to master internet research. Here are some of the excellent tips on how to optimize Google searches that I will be sharing:
1. Use unique, specific terms – It is simply amazing how many Web pages are returned when performing a search. You might guess that the terms blue dolphin are relatively specialized. A Google search of those terms returned 2,440,000 results! To reduce the number of pages returned, use unique terms that are specific to the subject you are researching.
2. Use browser history – Many times, I will be researching an item and scanning through dozens of pages when I suddenly remember something I had originally dismissed as being irrelevant. If you can remember the general date and time of the search you can look through the browser history to find the Web page.
3. Don’t use common words and punctuation – Common terms like a and the are called stop words and are usually ignored. There are cases when common words like the are significant. For instance, Raven and The Raven return entirely different results.
4. Set a time limit — then change tactics
Sometimes, you never can find what you are looking for. Start an internal clock, and when a certain amount of time has elapsed without results, stop beating your head against the wall. It’s time to try something else:
> Use a different search engine, like Yahoo! Bing, Startpage, or Lycos.
> Ask a peer.
> Call support.
> Ask a question in the appropriate forum.
> Use search experts who can find the answer for you.
The Internet is the great equalizer for those who know how to use it efficiently. Anyone can now easily find facts using a search engine — assuming they know a few basic tricks.
Never underestimate the power of a skilled search expert.
Sharing A Friend’s Post > My headset was my weapon once upon a time in my life
Sharing a post from a longtime friend and business partner… because I feel the EXACT same way!!!
I started in customer service myself and 20 years later here I am, the owner of my own call center.
Tonichi Achurra, Vice President Philippine Operations at Teleperformance Philippines
My headset was my weapon once upon a time in my life.
When I was asked to wear a headset for a shoot, so many memories of my life on the phones started to trickle in. I still wear my headset when I listen to calls side by side with an agent BUT wearing it and remembering how I was once a call center agent – it was surreal.
The POINT IS, I wanted to post a pic of me with my headset because when I was a call center agent, I didn’t have an opportunity to post a picture of it with pride. WHY? There was no FB yet. LOL
Anyway, to all the Call Center Agents of the Philippines a lot has been said but what is important is that:
We BELIEVE in your ability to provide excellent service to our customers all over the world
We TRUST you to uphold the work ethics that we value and live by
We ADMIRE your resilience, flexibility and willingness to work extremely challenging hours in order to have a decent living to provide for your loved ones
We SALUTE your perseverance to pursue a dream – of a better life and a successful career
YOU are the New Age Heroes of the Philippines! Love your job and it will love you back!
Proud that I was once upon a time, a call center agent. Cheers to my friends, who were beside me during that time .. BOY did we have so much fun!
Decision-Making, Analytics & Intelligence > Philippines 