Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.

This latest BriefingsDirect discussion from The Open Group Conference earlier this month in Philadelphia explores the essential role of standards in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world.

From risks around cybersecurity to supply chain concerns to fast-changing trends around cloud computing, the pace of change and pressures on businesses to adjust well have never been higher. To gain a fuller grip on such risk and complexity, The Open Group is shepherding a series of standards and initiatives to provide better tools for understanding and managing true operational dependability.

BriefingsDirect sat down with the President and CEO of The Open Group, Allen Brown, at the July conference to gather an update on the efforts. The interview was conducted by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.

The next edition of the HP Discover Performance Podcast Series highlights how Infinity Insurance Companies in Birmingham, Alabama has been deploying a new data architecture -- native column store databases -- to improve productivity for their analysis and business intelligence (BI) queries.

To learn more about how Infinity has improved their performance and their results for their business analytics, BriefingsDirect interviewed Barry Ralston, Assistant Vice President for Data Management at Infinity Insurance Companies. The discussion, which took place at the recent HP Discover 2013 Conference in Las Vegas, is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Among other findings, Ralston and his team has seen a 100 times improvement in their top 12 worst-performing queries or longest-running queries when moving from a row-store-based Oracle Exadata implementation to a column store-based HP Vertica deployment.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Ariba, an SAP Company.

This latest BriefingsDirect podcast, from the 2013 Ariba LIVE Conference in Washington, D.C., explores the rapid adoption of better means for companies to conduct so-called spot buying, a more ad-hoc and agile -- yet managed -- approach to buying products and services.

We'll learn about new spot-buying research from The Hackett Group on the latest and greatest around agile procurement of low-volume purchases, and we'll learn how two companies are benefiting from making spot buying a new competency.

The panel consists of Kurt Albertson, Associate Principal Advisor at The Hackett Group in Atlanta; Ian Thomson, Koozoo’s Head of Business Development, based in San Francisco, and Cal Miller, Vice President of Business Development for Blue Marble Media in Atlanta. The interview is conducted Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Ariba, an SAP Company.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.

This latest BriefingsDirect discussion, leading into The Open Group Conference on July 15 in Philadelphia, brings together a panel of experts to explore how new IT trends are empowering improvements, specifically in the area of healthcare. We'll learn how healthcare industry organizations are seeking large-scale transformation and what are some of the paths they're taking to realize that.

We'll see how improved cross-organizational collaboration and such trends as big data and cloud computing are helping to make healthcare more responsive and efficient.

The panel: Jason Uppal, Chief Architect and Acting CEO at clinicalMessage; Larry Schmidt, Chief Technologist at HP for the Health and Life Sciences Industries, and Jim Hietala, Vice President of Security at The Open Group. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

This special BriefingsDirect thought leadership interview comes in conjunction with The Open Group Conference, which is focused on enterprise transformation in the finance, government, and healthcare sectors. Registration to the conference remains open. Follow the conference on Twitter at #ogPHL.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.

The next edition of the HP Discover Performance Podcast Series examines how McKesson Corp. accomplished a multi-year, pan-IT management transformation. We’ll learn how McKesson's performance journey, from 2005 to the present, has enabled it to better leverage an agile, hybrid cloud model.

The discussion comes from the recent HP Discover 2013 Conference in Las Vegas.

Andy Smith, Vice President of Applications Hosting Services at McKesson, joins host Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, to explore how McKesson gained a standardized services orientation to gain agility in deploying its many active applications.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.

This next edition of the HP Discover Performance Podcast Series targets on how IT leaders are improving security and reducing risks as they adapt to new and often harsh realities of doing business online.

 We’re going to learn from a panel how professional services provider CSC, in a strategic partnership with HP, is helping companies and governments better understand and adapt to the tough cybersecurity landscape.  

Our panel consists of co-host Paul Muller, Chief Software Evangelist at HP Software; Dean Weber, Chief Technology Officer, CSC Global Cybersecurity, and Sam Visner, Vice President and General Manager, CSC Global Cybersecurity. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: HP.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Dell Software.

Debunking myths around big data should be a first step to making better business decisions for improving data analysis and data management capabilities in your company.

As the volume and purpose of data and business intelligence (BI) has dramatically shifted, older notions and misconceptions -- what amount to myths about data infrastructure -- need to updated and corrected, too.

So we're here to pose some better questions about data, and provide up-to-date answers for running data-driven businesses that can efficiently and repeatedly predict dynamic market trends and customer wants in real time.

As the volume and types of data that are brought to bear on business analytics advance, the means to manage and exploit that sea of data needs to be none too costly nor too complex for mid-size companies to master. There are better ways than traditional data architectures.

To help identify what works best around modern big data management, BriefingsDirect interviews Darin Bartik, Executive Director of Products in the Information Management Group at Dell Software. The discussion is conducted by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Dell Software.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.

This latest BriefingsDirect discussion, leading into the The Open Group Conference on July 15 in Philadelphia, brings together a panel of experts to explore the business implications of the current shift to so-called Platform 3.0.

Known as the new model through which big data, cloud, and mobile and social -- in combination -- allow for advanced intelligence and automation in business, Platform 3.0 has so far lacked standards or even clear definitions.

The Open Group and its community are poised to change that, and we're here now to learn more how to leverage Platform 3.0 as more than a IT shift -- and as a business game-changer. It will be a big topic at next week's conference.

The panel: Dave Lounsbury, Chief Technical Officer at The Open Group; Chris Harding, Director of Interoperability at The Open Group, and Mark Skilton, Global Director in the Strategy Office at Capgemini. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

This special BriefingsDirect thought leadership interview comes in conjunction with The Open Group Conference, which is focused on enterprise transformation in the finance, government, and healthcare sectors. Follow the conference on Twitter at #ogPHL.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.

We recently assembled a panel of experts to explore new trends and solutions in the area of anticipating business risk, to help organization gain a foothold on better managed processes and structure for staying clear of identifiable weaknesses.

The goal: To help enterprises better deliver risk assessment and, one hopes, defenses, in the current climate of challenging cybersecurity and against other looming business threats. By predicting risks and potential losses accurately, organizations can gain agility via thoughtful priorities and thereby repeatably reduce the odds of losses.

The panel consists of Jack Freund, Information Security Risk Assessment Manager at TIAA-CREF; Jack Jones, Principal at CXOWARE and an inventor of the FAIR risk analysis framework, and Jim Hietala, Vice President, Security, at The Open Group. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

This special BriefingsDirect thought leadership interview comes in conjunction with The Open Group conference to be held beginning July 15 in Philadelphia. The conference is focused on enterprise transformation in the finance, government, and healthcare sectors. Registration to the conference remains open. Follow the conference on Twitter at #ogPHL.

 Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.


Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Ariba, an SAP Company.

This BriefingsDirect discussion, from the recent 2013 Ariba LIVE Conference in Washington, D.C., explores how SHI International teamed with Ariba to streamline IT product discovery and purchasing processes for large agricultural machinery builder AGCO.

A global provider of IT products, procurement, and related services, with more than $4 billion in annual sales, SHI has tapped into the networked economy to improve their business productivity and sales. To learn more about how agile procurement works well, we're joined John D’Aquila, Applications Support Manager at SHI International Corp. in Somerset, New Jersey.

The interview is conducted Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Find the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Ariba, an SAP Company.