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Every company has hundreds of millions of records about their sales, expenses, employees and so on, with dozens of insights yet to be discovered through simple comparison or triangulation of relevant data.

Why don’t we focus on this? I think because it’s very difficult to do – being successful in this “data translator” role requires a unique set of skills and knowledge, the combination of which I call the BASE skillset: Business understanding Ability to synthetize and simplify Storytelling skills Expertise in data visualization

Business Understanding This one seems obvious, but it doesn’t mean simply understanding the financials of a business. Rather, it means truly knowing the operational details, the incentives, the install base, market growth, penetration, the competition, etc. An analyst can’t just know the technical aspect of a report or the math behind the numbers, but what is truly driving a pattern in terms of product quality, competition, incentives and/or offerings. The best analysts are able to mathematically isolate the key levers of a trend and then suggest actions to react to or take advantage of those trends. Ability to Synthetize and Simplify This is, in my opinion, the most underrated and underappreciated skill. Combing through thousands of data points and netting out 3-4 key issues in under 10 minutes, and then communicating these to a group of execs with very different analytical skills, is truly difficult. The key is to make it simple but not simplistic, which means you still capture the complexity even as you get to the few core insights. It requires a very thorough effort to gather all the relevant information before categorizing, prioritizing and deciding if it is significant. After a while, you become an expert and can sniff things out quickly. At the same time, there is the danger of missing anomalies when you jump to conclusions based only on a summary look.

Storytelling Skills There are stages that should be followed when explaining complex ideas, something data translators are frequently expected to do. The best storytellers start by giving context and trying to couple the current discussion to something the audience already knows, ensuring the story is well structured and connected. We have to move from a “buffet style” business review with thousands of numbers packed in tables to a layered approach that will guide the audience to focus first on the most relevant messages, diving deeper only when necessary. Minto Pyramid Principles, which are built around a process for organizing thought and communication, are helpful in making sure you really focus on what is important and relevant, versus being obsessed in telling every fact. Expertise in Data Visualization I am glad to finally see so much focus on Information Visualization and I believe this is correlated to the explosion of data. Traditional methods of organizing data do not facilitate an intuitive understanding of key information points or trends. For instance, the two examples below contain data on car sales across the U.S. The first, an alphabetized list, is much less intuitive than the second, which shows those sales on a map in Power View. With Power View, right away you can identify the states with the highest sales: CA, FL, TX, NY. (Workbook available here)

There is no better way to see patterns or trends than data visualization, making expertise in this area – both technical and analytical – critical for data translators.

Copy Filesystem Copy all your files to the new server.  This can be done simply by locating the root directory on your old instance and copy and pasting it to the new server location.

Import Database Import the mysql database into the new server.  Here's how you would restore your custback.sql file to the Customers database. mysql -u sadmin -p pass21 Customers < custback.sql Here's the general format you would follow: mysql -u [username] -p [password] [database_to_restore] < [backupfile]

Check Files and Permissions Check Config.php Open <sugarroot/config.php> and make sure that all settings still apply to the new server, such as: array ( 'db_host_name' => 'localhost', 'db_user_name' => 'root', 'db_password' => 'PASSWORD', 'db_name' => 'DATABASE_NAME', 'db_type' => 'mysql', ), 'site_url' =>, etc...

Check htaccess Open <sugarroot/.htaccess> and ensure that the new server URLs are used correctly.

Check Permissions Check that the permissions are correct on the new server. That is the entire custom and cache directories (and all the sub directories) in addition to the config.php file are owned and writable by the user that runs the application on the server.

Software projects aren’t just technical endeavors. They’re also political, financial, emotional, structural, strategic, process and people-centric initiatives. Ignoring any one of these dimensions is done at the project manager’s peril.

Today’s CFO must balance the demands of two competing forces: the extraordinary wave of innovation (and the process changes these bring) against the regulatory, control-driven forces who want every process, every exception, and device to be documented, controlled and secured. In recent years, CFOs have spent tens of billions of dollars (or more) with audit firms to document the control points and risks within their existing ERP solutions.

ERP can bring significant benefit but implementation requires careful attention to both business planning and technology activities. For this reason, achieving project success and business value demand that CFO and CIO work together as a collaborative unit.

Therefore, it is essential to create this partnership and show your entire organization that the business and technology teams can communicate, collaborate, and share knowledge on a systematic and consistent basis. This collaboration is the true underlying strategy for gaining maximum value from ERP or any other enterprise initiative.

Beware the Three-Headed Geek-Monster: Tools, Performance, and Mathematical Perfection Many things can sabotage the use of analytics within the workplace. Politics and infighting perhaps; a bad experience from a previous “enterprise, business intelligence, cloud dashboard” project; or peers who don’t want their “dark art” optimized or automated for fear that their jobs will become redundant.

Not all hurdles are within your control as an analytics professional. But some are. There are three primary ways I see analytics folks sabotage their own work: overly complex modeling, tool obsession, and fixation on performance.

In other words, work with the rest of your organization to do better business, not to do data science for its own sake.

Data Smart: Using Data Science to Transform Information into Insight by John W. Foreman. Copyright © 2013.

1) Your First-Party Data: The primary and most valuable data set you can access, first-party data encompasses transactional and other customer-level profile information you have on your customers. It could also include your own off-line segmentation analysis that allows you to map a customer to a customer profile around which you build your marketing programs. This can also include your analytics or other on-site tracking data, which can deliver behavioral insight to your consumers. This data can be difficult to export from its current environment due to the ad hoc nature of the data, but, if possible, look at ways to make this information accessible to your digital sites. 2) Third-Party Data: A consumer's broader Web browsing and buying history can now be accessed in session to provide you with more context on their likes and habits. Data management platforms (DMPs) and other data aggregators are accelerating this offering and, just as importantly, the availability of this type of data. This is invaluable in the context of new visitors who you know nothing about historically. 3) Real-Time Behavior: Let's not forget what our customers are telling us with each click. We get enamored with our predictive modeling to the point that we do not see the tell-tale signs as they are happening. Take the time to stop, look, and react. Your analytic tools, personalization tools, and other software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms can help you trigger alternate site experiences based on every click you see.

Rule #1: Don't ask for more information than you'd personally be willing to give. Asking for too much information in an opt-in form can be a major deterrent to visitors who would otherwise be likely to sign up.

Make signing up as simple as possible by requiring only the bare minimum. In many cases, this means just the email address. Every field you add to your form beyond that will decrease the chances of someone filling it out.

An opt-in form that says something like "Sign up for our newsletter," doesn't offer any benefit to the visitor. Give people a reason to opt-in by offering them something they'll care about, like: "Sign up for our monthly newsletter and gain instant access to our 57-page e-book on X."

I recently welcomed two kittens into the family and we buy our supplies from Petco. As soon as I signed up for Petco's Pals Rewards program, the store proceeded to email me every single day with a new coupon offer. Can you guess what I did? Yep, I opted out. I'll still buy pet supplies from Petco, but at some point, the annoyance became greater than the value of the coupons.

One of the most critical steps in structuring your e-commerce email campaign is to set the publish frequency to align with the types of products you're selling and who you're selling to. At a bare minimum, segment your audience into two broad categories of current customers and prospects.

When you're communicating with prospective customers, offer discounts, promotions and pre-sale notifications and buying tips in your emails, to move them along the conversion path.

You can further segment your email list by those you send to frequently, those you send to less frequently and those you send to only sometimes.

When most people opt in to receive B2B email communications, they are at the top of the conversion funnel; the "awareness" stage. A smart B2B email campaign will then provide the right content to bring the buyer deeper into the conversion funnel, with content specific for each stage of the buying cycle.

Here are some ideas to get you started: Explore learning concepts that get the reader up to speed on the ideas surrounding your services, and that demonstrate your brand's unique perspective.  Dive into the ideas behind why a service like yours is so important to customers, what to look for in a company, and how your service or ideas compare to others.  Answer common questions your prospective customers have at each stage of the buying cycle and even after the purchase.

Think of topics like, "7 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Choosing [insert your service here]" as a basis for building your case. If you have a sales team, ask them for the most common objections they hear from prospects, and create your content around the specific concerns known to be top-of-mind for many buyers.

Will it work for Outlook, Gmail or whichever email provider your company uses? 

Does you CRM have full social media integration? It’s vital that any customers or clients interacting with you on social channels can be included in your CRM updates. You will find this happens increasingly as your public facing channels become more popular. For more detailed information download our best practice guide CRM in the social age.  

Do you have a fully CRM trained analytics team that can study and understand the data and reports the system will generate? It’s probably wise to implement a cleansing plan for your existing data before the new system is implemented. Sifting through contacts to remove any duplicated or defunct leads.

Having an extra piece of software in the company, especially one as integral as this, means there’s a lot more to manage and possibly to go wrong. Make sure you have the technical support in place to ensure its smooth running.