Great point.  We don't want to see courses geared to training students in specific vendors' products!

A company opening up a data center that isn't in California, Washington (the state, not DC), New York or Massachusetts? Isn't this against the law or something?

As anyone who saw my comments on Mitch's post knows, following the roads less traveled gives you a much better chance to get people. I personally would have chose Cleveland, because (a) Case Institute of Technology has a better math program and (b) the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are constantly looking for people to crunch medical data. But you have Nationwide, the Limited and the State government down there, so you can argue it either way..

Plus, you have to salute IBM's commitment to hiring the mentally handicapped (Ohio State graduates). What can you say about people who couldn't recognize a "horse chestnut" and invented a new name for it? Smart people check reference sources before they define a name like "Michigan Badger" for a "Wolverine."

What I don't like about the project is the mainframe-style thinking. They need to hire one person to do analytics-- all the tasks? Wouldn't it make a little more sense to train teams of people,, each with a critical skill, such as:

• Operations analysts, who understand the business's needs and can frame questions about its problems.
• Data analysts, who look at the data and figure out what type to tests to run to get the best results.
• Progranmer analysts, who write the code to extract and process the data.

As a practicing generalist, I'm a big fan of looking for someone with breadth of skills, rather than propeller-heads who only know one thing. But these skills are not interrealted-- you wouldn't look for just one person to do all three types of work on a traditional development project  So why, just because it's a new field, would you do it here?

By distributing the processing, you make it much easier to find people who can do the work. You also teach teamwork, something in short supply in most IT shops.

But, hey, it's IBM. Not fair to expect them to have two unconventional and brilliant ideas on the same project.

Sponsorship -- funding -- is clearly key, but I think the direct involvement of enterprises like IBM in the curriculum and outreach is also important, if the training is to be of real relevance to the workplace.  I'm concerned that just adding an academic elective in "analytics" to a degree course might just produce students with credentials, who then need to be trained from scratch by businesses.

Maybe IBM and other companies need to sponsor a corporate/vocational version of the Khan Academy -- and make it easier for anyone to pick up business intelligence skills and earn credits for learning these big-data skills... 

Good example of data being a competitive edge, Alison.  That is what truly is changing business.

I think this model that Kim is reporting on is excellent.  As we produce more development centers for the talent/use of analytics, I believe it will move organizations forward to help overcome the barriers to widespread use.  We have needed a bridge between supply and demand.

DHagar

I guess I am referring to the heterogeneous nature of data mentioned.  However, what we see is the technology is now catching up to meet the fluid nature of the way real people data collect.  For example, how about setting up a Kinect for Windows to see the way people move around the store, or how they reach or reject certain items.   Tablets, sure.   Or how about using a smart phone to take pictures of each of your customers when they come in...but then putting it in a visual database and using facial recognition to alert the salesperson, hey, your best customer just walked through the door!

As far as analysis, there are two revolutions.  One is the big data and new analysis tools...but also in the types of data available in social and multi-media, and the way we can collect it.

There are still stores in New York (small, independent) which write out customer purchases in ledgers.  Get a laptop at least, people.

Alison, of course I remember Mark Gastineau despite my best attempts going to dr after dr trying  for true deletion of those Mark Gastineau memory holder braincells. And if Gastineau isn't  enough you trump him with Dee Snider!  I have a pretty good idea where that food market was located.

I worked at a small, privately-owned supermarket through high school and college. One way we competed against the large chains was through customer service, which included giving loyal (and some new) customers credit. They'd then come in once or twice a month and write a (big) check (our prices were a lot higher). As one of the top p/t employees,  I was often asked to make decisions on whether we could let someone "charge," the only collateral being their phone number on the back of the receipt. Customers didn't want to wait around for someone to find the manager or assistant manager. It was all based on gut. I am sure, however, that the owner lost money on bad loans.

But I did get the numbers for several celebrities and people with minor star status that way, including Dee Snider and (if anyone remembers him) football player Mark Gastineau.(And, no, I never called any of them. And, yes, they all paid their bills!)