The Dualism of Data Intelligence

Half. If you were to pick a word that best describes me, it would be half.

I was born in Vancouver, British Columbia but my mother is ethnically Chinese; she immigrated to Canada after the Communist Revolution. I grew up with my feet planted firmly in both Western and Eastern worlds – but it doesn’t end there. I am also a self-professed (and proud) nerd.

In Grade 2 I learned the English alphabet in binary. My Grade 3 show-and-tell project was on how search engines worked, which was long before the Google search engine when Netscape and AOL were all still around. My Grade 4 science fair project was on nuclear fusion complete with a 3D animation (done in Corel 3D). But again, that is only half the story. I also played many sports at a competitive level: swimming, water polo, rugby, and freestyle skiing.

Half of me yearns for a quiet life in the mountains hiking and skiing, and the other half of me craves the frantic pace of the big cities exploring food, and art, and music. I grew up wanting to study English at Oxford and become a famous author exploring my creative side, while at the same time wanting to work for the International Monetary Fund or World Bank based on my background in development and sustainability economics. Half.

This ideas of duality and balance are not new. In fact, they are deeply embedded in cultures around the world, a well-known example being the concepts of yin and yang. In many ways this idea of two halves representing a universal truth has greatly influenced my work at SAP, and our new solution SAP Data Intelligence is the perfect illustration. This solution merges two halves of how we find insights to improve how companies do business, and ultimately improve the world.

Managing your data is just one half of the equation. The other half is extracting value from that data using advanced statistical techniques and software in a repeatable and trusted manner. But the goal is always about finding unique insights to take meaningful action.

From helping identify the best course of cancer treatment based on individual genetics to pinpointing crop illness on palm plantations using drone photography, SAP has been uniting the two halves of data and insights for many years. My passion for this has led to my involvement in the next evolution of our Data Management and Artificial Intelligence story.

Follow the What Is Data Intelligence blog post and learn how bringing together two halves can help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

Register for more details and demos showing how to  get started with Enterprise AI and Intelligent Information Management today.