Meghan Musante

As 2015 draws to a close, we take a look back at some of this year’s biggest attention-getters.

The Associated Press conducted its annual poll of U.S.-based editors and news directors to determine the top stories of the year. The Islamic State came in at #1; climate change at #8; and Europe’s migrant crisis at #10, to mention a few. On the pop culture front, well let’s just say that CNN referred to 2015 as “the year of transformation…” with Caitlyn Jenner, Bill Cosby and David Letterman in the headlines.

At EMC and InFocus, the Global Services blog, it was clear this year that our readers prefer visual graphics to deliver key messages. As research suggests, a well-designed infographic will grab readers’ attention and hopefully prompt them to engage. Infographics are easy to understand and share, and quick to consume. That could be why they make up four of the top 10 most visited pieces of content from 2015.

Let’s take a look at our Top 10 list.

#10. Thinking Like a Data Scientist Part II: Predicting Business Performance by Bill Schmarzo

A continuation of Part I (spoiler alert: Part I also made the countdown), Part II covers Steps 4-6 by describing the “By” Analysis technique, the “Score” technique and “closing the loop,” the final step in “Thinking Like A Data Scientist.” In this post, you will learn how thinking like a data scientist will benefit your organization by driving better collaboration as well as value to the business.

#9. Your ‘How-To’ Guide for Moving Applications to the Cloud by Scott Bils

In this blog, Scott Bils covers a different kind of transformation – application. Here he walks through two of the most common scenarios for moving legacy applications to the cloud, as well as related EMC Global Service offerings like the Cloud Advisory Service and Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud solution. One reader called this #9 post a “game changer, especially for organizations with thousands of apps to make decisions about.”

#8. Why Do I Need A Data Lake? by Bill Schmarzo

Bill Schmarzo describes the data lake’s characteristics and dissects its three main misconceptions. Sure, having a data lake saves IT organizations money, says Mr. Schmarzo, but the real reason you need a data lake is that it can help your business make more money!

#7. What is the Big Data Killer App? by Bill Schmarzo

What is the application that’s so compelling it drives organizations to adopt Big Data? You’re going to have to read Bill Schmarzo’s blog post to find out. What I can tell you is that this killer app creates a competitive advantage and provides compelling value to your customers. It supports key business initiatives, differentiates your company and/or provides competitive differentiation in the marketplace. Wait, why haven’t you clicked on the blog link yet?

#6. Thinking Like a Data Scientist Part I: Understanding Where To Start by Bill Schmarzo

In Part I, Bill Schmarzo sets the stage with Steps 1-3 for business users to think like a data scientist. This post will show you how to identify a key business initiative, identify strategic nouns and brainstorm strategic noun questions. Mr. Schmarzo makes this process easy to understand and follow with his real life example using Foot Locker.

#5. Redefine Your Storage with ViPR Controller

This piece of special content includes seven ViPR How-To videos with resourceful blog links from Keith Waryas and Donna Brasure. The videos will introduce you to ViPR Controller and show you how to enable the core Software Defined Storage functionality all by yourself.

#4. Big Data Vision Animation

This two-minute animation shows how Big Data analytics is about using data to influence business events as they’re unfolding. EMC Global Services offers data lakes to store and process data so that you can predict what will happen and what you should do before it actually happens. Watch this clip to see an example of how one company correlated soybean shipments in Barcelona with asthma sufferers, and created a new business opportunity at the same time.

#3. Extend Your Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud

OK folks, now we are in the Top 3 realm and we are nearing 3,000 views with this infographic on the Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud. EMC Global Services takes you through the necessary steps to free your organization from legacy architectures and improve your IT as a service processes and organizational structure. Learn the true value and capabilities of your hybrid cloud with this infographic.

#2. Accelerate Your Application Delivery Capability With DevOps Infographic

With EMC DevOps Services and the Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud, you can pull your teams together to realign organizations from existing silos to an integrated team. More than 80 percent of IT executives have reported improvements in productivity, alignment, responsiveness and more. I would say it’s worth taking a look!

#1. Big Data Vision Infographic

At nearly 3,500 views, this infographic explains the data-related challenges businesses can face and how EMC Big Data Solutions can help. Click on the link above to learn about EMC’s big data solutions to see why you may want to consider scheduling a Big Data Vision Workshop. EMC Global Services can help you take advantage of your data for maximum business impact.

A wide variety of IT topics were discussed on InFocus this year, and one thing was clear: EMC Global Services’ bloggers kept up with the trends of 2015. IT Transformations, Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud, Data Lakes, you name it and they covered it.

Thank you to our readers for continuing to check back on our blog and engage with the latest thoughts in our ever-changing industry. We are looking forward to an exciting 2016. Cheers!

Year in Review: Top Content of 2015
Meghan Musante