Blog

Murray Leach set to speak at Big Data London

We’re pleased to announce that Murray Leach, Head of Systems and Support at Network Rail Infrastructure will be joining us at BDL at 12.30 pm on 13th November in the Fast Data Theatre, talking about “The key to unlocking the data in your enterprise system – a real-world journey” Murray will take us through his…

Spark + AI Summit Europe 2019 – The Highlights

Last week I attended the Spark + AI Summit Europe 2019 in Amsterdam, whilst a few days in Amsterdam raised mentions of ‘jolly’ and ‘mini-breaks’ with the team this couldn’t have been further from the truth. With over 2,000 avid Spark users from all over Europe gathered together to get the latest updates and detailed…

Building an effective data team

We recently attended the Northern Data Forum where the big issue being discussed was what it takes to build an effective data team. Dave Naylor, CTO of ResearchBods and Heather Dawe, Lead Data Scientist at Hiscox UK talked about their experiences of doing just that. It was really insightful, so we thought we’d share some…

Oakland goes to Pycon

Python is often touted as one of the fasted growing programming languages (https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/07/26/python-is-becoming-the-worlds-most-popular-coding-language), with a myriad of applications such as web development, cybersecurity and of course data science & analytics. Whilst a number of different coding languages are utilised by members of The Oakland Group, depending on the scenario, the majority of the team can…

The key to unlocking your Oracle data

Data is nothing new. Long before the ‘Big Data’ explosion, businesses were producing and storing their data. The problem for those with large enterprise systems still in place is extracting that data so they can get the maximum benefit from it today. It can be a painful process. Having recently been set that challenge by…

Join our data strategy workshop

Is your data strategy aligned to your business strategy? 86% of senior executives agree than eliminating organisational silos is critical to expanding the use of data and analytics in decision making. (Google Research) Leading companies such as Amazon, Walmart, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Netflix use data is almost every business decision. Most of these organisations…

Extracting maximum value from your data and analytics

Have you started on your data journey but struggling to break through the hype and fit the disparate parts of the data puzzle together to deliver the digital success you hoped for?  The Oakland Group’s Richard Corderoy delves into the real world of big data.   Are companies getting better at putting their data houses…

The Oakland Group at PyCon!

The Oakland team are super excited to be heading to Cardiff this September to attend this year’s PyCon, the annual celebration of everything Python (the swiss army knife of programming). Here at the Oakland Group we’re super passionate about technical excellence and we’re continually learning, always looking to push the boundaries of what is achievable….

News from the CDO Exchange

So another year down. Another CDO Exchange attended. It was another great event hosted by IPQC, and as usual, most of it went without a hitch (apart from the accidental coffee spill over our table!). Many people we met have an increased level of ‘data maturity’ compared to only a year ago. It seems that the…

Oakland’s Mike Turner and Hiab’s Tobias Bunne set to speak at BQF Leadership Conference

Do you want to be an effective leader? Join us on Thursday 28th March at the BQF Leadership Conference where Mike Turner will be speaking with Hiab’s Tobias Bunne. We’ll be covering the key aspects of quality leadership and who better to give their insight than the winner of the Quality Organisation of the Year…

MCA highlights demand for analytical skills

Management Consultancies are recruiting significantly less graduates from Oxbridge and Russell Group universities according to a new independent survey conducted for the Management Consultancies Association, only 4% of young consultants were educated at Oxbridge whilst 54% came from Russell Group universities as leading firms seek to diversify their talent pool and compete with tech giants…

A tumultuous start to 2019

If the start of this year is anything to go by much change threatens (or promises) to lie ahead. No doubt you have been turning your minds to what 2019 will hold for you and your business. So what might we expect? 1. Given the latest Brexit bombshell and utter lack of clarity, business leaders…