Meet Phil Simon, a speaker and technology expert based out of Las Vegas, NV. He works with companies on how to optimize their use of technology and is an accomplished writer on the subjects of big data, emerging technologies, and the biggest technology platforms in our world today.
“I moved to Vegas a little under three years ago from New Jersey for a bunch of reasons,” Phil Simon said. “I am a frequent keynote speaker and a recognized technology expert, although I don’t love that word. I have written six management books, including The Visual Organization: Data Visualization, Big Data, and the Quest for Better Decisions.”
He says when he is not writing, he advises organizations on matters related to strategy, data, and technology.
“For some reason, media outlets let me pontificate about things,” he said. “My work has been featured on The Harvard Business Review, CNN, Wired, NBC, CNBC, Inc. Magazine, BusinessWeek, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, The New York Times, ReadWriteWeb, and many other sites.”
In 2013, Wiley published Phil Simon’s book Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data.
“The book serves as a what I believe is a useful and jargon-free overview of a very important subject: Big Data. I detail the most prominent technologies, applications, and tools,” he said. “Among the most important questions that book answers is, “How are organizations finding the signal in the noise that is Big Data?” That’s a really big question, one that necessitated much more breadth than depth. As such, Too Big to Ignore provides overviews of Hadoop, NoSQL, different statistical methods, natural language processing, data visualization, and other Big Data tools. With a data-friendly mind-set, companies like Netflix, Wedgies, eBay, the University of Texas, and Autodesk are garnering amazing insights into their operations, users, customers, products, and employees.”
Phil Simon said he wanted to showcase a company very much in startup mode, so he turned to local Las Vegas startup Wedgies. Wedgies is a startup focused on real time fun polls.
“To me, becoming a Visual Organization is much more about a mind-set than financial and human resources. Wegies.com founders Jimmy Jacobson and Porter Haney understand that, and the Wedgies’ experience reflects that. On the back end, they use interactive dataviz tools like D3.js to help run their business,” he said.
Phil Simon says his latest book, The Visual Organization, isn’t about the nuts and bolts of dataviz. The book demonstrates how and why a growing number of organizations are visualizing their data to diagnose issues, discover new customer insights, and make better decisions.
He wrote this book for CXOs, company founders, students, consultants, professionals, and anyone else curious about how to make sense of out Big Data.
“It is hardly the first book about the subject,” he explains. “On the contrary, many other researchers, authors, and practitioners have contributed a great deal to the field. It’s no understatement to say that a vast body of work has been done on the topic. By using a case-study approach, I hope to pique readers’ interest.”
In a review for the book, Frank Gruber, CEO & Co-Founder of Tech Cocktail, shared his thoughts.
“The sheer amount of data coming at us these days is overwhelming companies both small and large,” Frank Gruber said. “It’s no wonder that so many miss out on the opportunities right in front of them. The Visual Organization manifests how a wide range of companies is leveraging new and powerful visual tools. Read it and turn your company into a more efficient, data-driven, decision-making machine.”
