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Simon Robinson (Research Vice President at 451 Research) interviewed by Renee Boucher Ferguson A lot of the talk about analytics focuses on its potentials to provide huge insights to company managers. But analyst Simon Robinson of 451 Research says that on the more basic level, the global conversation is about big data’s more pedestrian aspects: how do you store it, and how do you transmit it? With the bird’s eye view of an analyst, Simon Robinson has paid a lot of attention in the last 12 years to how companies are collecting and transmitting increasingly enormous amounts of information. Since 2000, Robinson has been with 451 Research, an analyst group focused on enterprise IT innovation. Today he is research vice president, running the Storage and Information Management team. Based in 451 Research’s London office, Robinson and his team specialize in identifying emerging trends and technologies that are helping organizations optimize and take advantage of their data and information, and meet ever-evolving governance requirements. (He’s on Twitter at @simonrob451.) “Storage is very complex,” Robinson says. And indeed, not only does it entail managing capacity and figuring out the best collection and retrieval methods, it also means synching with both the IT and the business teams and paying attention to complex security and privacy issues. In a conversation with Renee Boucher Ferguson, a researcher and editor at MIT Sloan Management Review Robinson discussed the changing storage landscape in the era of big data and cloud computing.

This report identifies how social technologies create value in a variety of business functions.

Leadership support been crucial to building and meeting aggressive sustainability metrics.

To gain from social coupons, businesses should craft deals carefully — without giving too much away.

The data investigation is all about how companies spot trends and how they figure out what's going on in those trends.

Using digital design in product development has potential downsides as well as advantages.

Suzanne Fallender (Intel), interviewed by Nina Kruschwitz. Just because you can't measure an action doesn't mean it's not creating value, says Suzanne Fallender, director of CSR Strategy and Communications for Intel. Her job, though, is to measure wherever she can and make the best case possible for incorporating sustainability efforts into every facet of the company. "We have been doing a lot of things around sustainability for a very long time," says Suzanne Fallender, director of CSR (corporate social responsibility) Strategy and Communications in the Intel Global Corporate Responsibility Office. "What we're doing now is trying to take it to that next level of integration in terms of our strategy, in terms of our governance system, in terms of employee engagement," she says. "That's really where we've been focusing a lot of our efforts." Fallender came to her role four and a half years ago from outside the company. "I went from analyzing thousands of companies doing CSR to being inside a company, and I always tease that I get a taste of my own medicine now." In her current role, Fallender oversees all of Intel's CSR programs. She's also front and center on the issue in social media, tweeting at @sfallender. In a conversation with Nina Kruschwitz, an editor and the special projects manager at MIT Sloan Management Review, Fallender talks about the challenges of breaking out costs and payoffs of sustainability efforts, how the company is using targeted websites like ExploreIntel.com to provide year-round real-time reporting of CSR activities and how Intel sees value in helping create long-term demand for renewables, even if it means paying more for green energy today.

New research by Marshall Van Alstyne challenges the existing theory about the value of strong ties versus weak ties.

This article explores the distinctive traits of companies that successfully transform themselves.

At too many large companies, corporate functions like HR and IT don't get enough strategic direction from the CEO.