Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Aurora WDC Presents Next Generation Intelligence Analysis for SLA...


Dr. Craig Fleisher, Chief Learning Officer at Aurora WDC and former Dean and Professor at U.S. and Canadian graduate schools of business, will lead a complimentary presentation on Tuesday 17 January 2012 for the monthly live webinar of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Competitive Intelligence Division (CID). The session is entitled “Next Generation Intelligence Analysis: Applications, Methods and Processes for Elevating Your Organization's Analytical Capabilities and Integrating with Key Intelligence Topics (KITs).”


The next generation of intelligence analysis looks very different from the analysis done in our organizations over the past several years. Driving forces, including the growing complexity of competitive and environmental factors, the global explosion of data available, and the need for alternative cognitive models have brought intelligence analysis to a tipping point. Dr. Fleisher - known by his peers as the "Dean of Intelligence Analysis" - will discuss how analysis practices and processes have been re-engineered to meet the rapidly changing needs of decision-makers based on more than 15 years of research conducted with hundreds of global organizations. Dr. Fleisher will illustrate the many next generation analysis elements, including the development of structured analytical methodologies that unite key intelligence topics (KITs) with analysis techniques in a framework known as KITs+1™. This session will also focus on collaborative insight mechanics driven by Web 2.0 applications such as wikis, and new models for training and development like Analytical Fitness™, developed by Aurora for use with its own analysts and clients.


As Dr. Fleisher explains, “A good analyst surfs along a continuum between tactical and strategic priorities but we find there are a limited number of techniques that most good analysts use - that number is somewhere between six and eight. However, seasoned analysts will use three dozen or more methods.”


Aurora's founder, Arik Johnson, added, “The problem with KITs is they are almost always misapplied by the intelligence practitioners that are only surface-familiar with them. KITs+1 allows us to dig into which analytic methods align best with each of the three KIT protocols, and have a good understanding where their application starts and ends.”


Dan Mulligan, a faculty member in the Department of Intelligence Studies at Mercyhurst, the Pennsylvania college with a world-renowned reputation of developing intelligence professionals for government and business, had more to say about analysis and KITs. “A KIT is not a panacea to solve all of the organization’s issues. A KIT is a specific, focused tasking to accomplish a specific objective.” Mulligan adds, “If we come up with a generic, ambiguous KIT we will have problems applying the appropriate methodology. And we will get to the end of the project, regardless of the methodology used, and have trouble when asking ourselves ‘did this really answer the question?’ One KIT can lead to several projects… we know that intelligence is never 'done' and a good analytic project is going to be the birth of the next project.”


Aurora’s CEO, Derek Johnson, added, “To go from six or eight to as many as three dozen analytical methods takes a lot of training and practice. This is just one example of Craig’s expertise at elevating the analytical capacity of Aurora's clients, as well as our own. We are thrilled to be bringing KITs+1 to SLA's Competitive Intelligence Division to help them perfect the way in which their members align key intelligence topical protocols - Key Marketplace Players, Early Warning, and Strategic Decisions and Issues - with the best analytical methods to enable their businesses to overcome the real-world problems they confront.”


Registration is complimentary and available at:


https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/355714194


About Aurora WDC


Since 1995 Aurora WDC has provided clients in diverse industries with the intelligence that drives their business, including global research, competitive analysis, market monitoring, training and program consulting, as well as, intelligence systems and software support to elevate decision effectiveness. For more information visit http://www.AuroraWDC.com or call 800-924-4249 to arrange to speak with a reference client who can describe the intelligence results Aurora has produced for their organization.


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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Big4.com Releases its 2011 Big Four Firms Performance Analysis


Big4.com, the premier social networking forum for professionals and alumni of Accenture, Andersen, BearingPoint, Capgemini, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC announced today the release of the 2011 Big Four Firms Financial Performance Analysis, providing a detailed financial and operating analysis of the performance of the four largest accounting firms in the world. The analysis shows the firms enjoyed outstanding revenue growth from 2010 to 2011 after a severe revenue decline in 2009, and stabilization in 2010, to solidify a rebound arising from the global economic slowdown. 2009 marked an abrupt reversal of five straight years of double-digit revenue growth.


After a moderate 2010, 2011 fiscal year saw large increase in revenues for Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, with revenues increasing between 7.6% and 10.1% from 2010, as firms got a strong boost from a general global recovery, enhanced equity markets, improved credit conditions, and better M&A and IPO activity, all of which spurred client demand, especially for Advisory Services and in Asia. Revenues increased in most developed regions, while growth continued at high levels in emerging markets of Asia and Latin America. Despite the limited data points that the firms report each year, our exclusive look at eight years of financial performance of these firms shows some very interesting trends and insights across firms, geographies and service lines.


In 2010, Deloitte had surpassed PricewaterhouseCoopers to become the largest Big Four firm, reporting revenues of $26.578 billion and growth of 1.8%, just ahead of PwC’s revenues of $26.569 billion and growth of 1.5%. Deloitte beat PwC by a small but significant margin of only $9 million. In 2011 however, PricewaterhouseCoopers regained its leadership position with revenues of $29.2 billion, up 10.0%, which exceeded Deloitte’s revenues of $28.2 billion, up by 8.4%, by more than $400 million. Ernst & Young placed third with 2011 revenues of $22.9 billion but its revenues rose the slowest among the Big Four with a 7.6% increase from 2010. KPMG remained the smallest firm with revenues of $22.7 billion, but had the highest growth at 10.1% and reduced the gap with Ernst & Young to only $170 million.


From 2010 to 2011, combined revenues for all the four firms in US dollar terms rose 9.0% to a historic record of $103 billion, a level which even surpassed the previous high of $101 billion in 2008. Audit revenue increased by 5.7% from 2010 to 2011, Tax revenue was also up by 7.1%, and Advisory revenues continued their strong streak, increasing by a solid 15.9%. The depreciating U.S. dollar over the reporting period helped firm post higher growth numbers in U.S. dollar terms. In local currency terms, revenues rose by somewhat lower percentage levels. Americas revenue increased solidly by 9.9% from 2010 to 2011, Europe revenue was also up by 5.4% despite volatility in the region, and Asia revenue growth continued with an outstanding performance of 17.4%. The analysis has further details on performance by global regions and by Audit, Tax and Advisory service lines, and outlook for 2012 and the future.


This analysis may be reproduced or distributed in parts or whole, but prominent and full attribution should be given at all times to “The 2011 Big Four Firms Performance Analysis by http://www.Big4.com.”


The full study can be downloaded as Adobe pdf at http://www.big4.com/analysis.


A summary video is available here.


About Big4.com
Big4.com is the accounting, tax, consulting and IT professions’ premier resource, and has been exclusively focused on Big Four firm professionals and alumni for 10 years, providing high quality content, connectivity and commerce. The Big Four Job Board offers fresh job opportunities – clients include the world’s leading companies. Big Four News covers key news, developments, events, survey results, press releases and appointments. The Big Four Blog provides opinion and insight on recent and key developments, news, happenings, management changes, regulations, acquisitions and capital market activities. Big4 Video is a professionally produced news covering key global developments in this space.


Big4.com has a strong presence on key social media platforms:


Youtube: Big4Video is a professionally produced weekly news magazine
Twitter: @Big4 has 8,500 followers. http://twitter.com/big4
LinkedIn: The Big Four Alumni and Professionals group is one of the largest alumni groups with 84,000+ members. http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1022
Facebook: The Big4 fan page has 5,500 fans at http://www.facebook.com/big4page
Xing: The Big Four Alumni and Professionals group has 1,150+ members at http://www.xing.com/net/big4alumni


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