Recent Posts by Margaret Lindquist

Lessons learned during an implementation project By Margaret Lindquist Fall 2019 After selecting Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning Cloud, Textron released an RFP to identify an implementation partner. “After receiving the documents back and comparing the strengths of the groups, we selected Oracle Consulting, primarily due to their knowledge of the product,” says Kelli Gudz, Textron’s senior finance systems manager. Here are a few of the lessons she learned during the project. P...

Textron moves to the cloud for security, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. By Margaret Lindquist Fall 2019 Bell vertical-lift products. Cessna and Beechcraft aircraft lines. COMMANDO Elite military vehicles. Since its beginnings in the early 20th century, Textron Inc. has grown into a multi-industry conglomerate and source of groundbreaking technologies and industry firsts. Over the decades, aircraft, rotorcraft, armored vehicles, electrical vehicles, and automotive systems...

Administrators are finding new ways to identify students who need extra help. By Margaret Lindquist March 2019 The first signs of trouble might be as simple as missed classes or failing grades. But even before that, there are often other signs. A student never swipes her ID card at the library or dining hall. Another doesn’t use the bus service or attend any events on campus. The lack of even small interactions like these indicates a disconnect from the campus. And without that...

How the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International uses a new app to track conservation threats By Margaret Lindquist Winter 2018 There are fewer than 900 mountain gorillas left on Earth. How can scientists use technology to protect them? With support from Oracle, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International developed an app enabling field researchers to enter data directly into tablets connected to Oracle Database Cloud. “We want to have data in real time that we can use to see if...

Fifty years ago, Dian Fossey climbed into the remote mountains of Rwanda to study the area’s endangered gorillas. Today, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) is using cutting-edge data collection and study tools to further her work and ensure the survival and revival of the species. Urged on by legendary archaeologist Louis Leakey and her own growing interest in the great apes, Fossey began carefully chronicling the gorillas’ behavior—day after day—for years....

Fifty years ago, Dian Fossey climbed into the remote mountains of Rwanda to study the area’s endangered gorillas. Today, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) is using cutting-edge data collection and study tools to further her work and ensure the survival and revival of the species. Urged on by legendary archaeologist Louis Leakey and her own growing interest in the great apes, Fossey began carefully chronicling the gorillas’ behavior—day after day—for years....

Managers can look forward to a big year for big data in 2015. The Big Data Crystal Ball View the Illustration Big data technologies are set to explode as companies take advantage of the data treasure they’ve accumulated. “To succeed, CEOs need to embrace the idea that data is now a kind of capital—as vital as financial capital to the development of new products, services, and business processes,” says Paul Sonderegger, big data strategist at Oracle. When we look into the future,...

Customers are the true beneficiaries of the Oracle and Siebel union. By Margaret Lindquist May 2006 Oracle and Siebel are merging to become the biggest front-office packaged application provider with a steady focus on meeting customer needs. The huge effort to address the requirements of 16,000 customers and over four million deployed end users doesn't faze Ed Abbo, formerly Siebel's vice president of development and now in charge of Oracle's Customer Relations Management (CRM)...

By Margaret Lindquist August 2009 Is it too soon to talk about preparing for the economic recovery? While many companies are still focused on cutting costs and increasing efficiencies, at the same time smart IT leaders are looking at ways they can make sure they’re ready to move ahead when the economy starts to turn around. As Oracle Senior Vice President Sonny Singh noted at this year’s Oracle CFO Forum, every downturn produces winners and losers—companies are twice as likely...