AutoGov

AutoGov at the University of Alabama's Business Analytics Symposium

Is Social Networking Important?

We recently have been having discussions about the importance of social networking. Should it dictate our time and effort to reach out to people? With its prevalence in everyday society, can it actually be a business tool or just a way to show how awesome my dog is?

                       Exhibit A.

Now more than ever people are using the internet and its many social networks to communicate, grow, and learn. The following are examples of the sheer volume of people that use them. Check out these videos...

Can BILLIONS of people be wrong?

Facebook

Twitter

All Social Media Collectively

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AutoGov Films: Joe the Caseworker

We are happy to finally announce that our long running "Joe the Caseworker" video has finally made its way to YouTube. Please watch and share our first of many video's to come.

Data Mining: The Tool of the Information Age

In this Stanford produced webinar, you will learn how to explore, analyze, and leverage data sets of any scale in this 60-minute webinar with Google's Search Scientist and Stanford Instructor Dr. Rajan Patel.  The content is a little technical but offers insight into the science behind dating mining and the reasons why data mining and analytics are the tools of the information age.

Ten Data Mining Mistakes to Avoid

John Elder presents an excellent tutorial in this top ten (actually 11!) list. Three mistakes that jump out at AutoGov's data mining team are those we learned of early in the development of CaseVue's model: 1) it is a mistake to proceed without data, 2) it is a mistake to extrapolate, and 3) it is a mistake to listen only to the data.

Reflections from the Week

While most folks race for the door on Friday afternoons, I find the time is perfect to reflect on the chaos of the week – quiet time for my brain.  No phones, no deadlines, no payroll and no cash flow issues to concern me.

The week was productive.  Working to ensure our business intelligence solutions are meeting our client’s needs, we have explored the BI markets newest stars – those whose model includes software as a service.  SaaS meets our client’s needs and allows us to practice what we preach – our flagship software is a SaaS offering.  Mashing a BI solution with our own will provide significant benefits to our clients.

AutoGov sales and marketing efforts are blowing and going.  The company has a pipeline (yes, I know it’s cool, right?) for the first time since we crawled away from our consulting business years ago.  We are exploring new methods of reaching our target markets.

The Mississippi Healthcare Summit held at Mississippi College in Clinton was enlightening.  While the State has challenges eclipsed by few others in the United States, the leadership stands tall offering solutions and hope rather than doom and gloom.  Soon to be elected Governor Phil Bryant, Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney and newly elected Senator Josh Harkins were a few of the players that will be key to Mississippi’s continued push forward.

Operations are solid, the technology is smokin’ hot and our customer service team ready’s for a month end drawing for an iPod.  The team, led by our CEO (Rose Hayden) and lead data scientist (Taylor Phillips) produced a comprehensive analysis for one of our clients.  The analysis provides a clear path forward and a bright future for the client’s operations.

Now my week is done.  These musings bring clarity.  Monday is certain to bring the return of the chaos of a small software company, but – at least for now – all is well.

Google Research and the Search for Perfection Yields $1,000,000 Award

The search for perfection isn't always conducted by the rocket scientists of the world. A music teacher with little knowlege about baseball uses web-based research to win a contest and $1 million.

Just an Idea or a Real Innovation?

AutoGov owns and operates a technology platform that has allowed us to create an easy to use web based application driven by advanced business analytics.

We had the idea first. But it was only a cool idea. We had to find a way to build the idea.

The innovation occurred when we developed a method for turning the unintelligible (read: useless) data mining driven algorithm into a useful product that saves our users millions each year.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Innovations are "practical ideas" -  ideas that can be implemented.

Technology is an enabler for millions of ideas, but the game changer is the entrepenuer who turns ideas into an innovation through blood, sweat, tears and usually a pile of cash.

They may not be changing the world but they are the rare breed that understand that ideas are just ideas until somebody makes it happen.