Page 2 - Creating a Corporate Data Culture. Getting There From Here Established organizations won’t become data-centric overnight. The first step calls for recognizing that the shift toward data is indeed a journey. It begins with the wholehearted commitment of the CEO, plus concrete actions and accountability from the company’s senior management. Three factors need immediate attention: Reskilling the organization A recent study revealed that only one-third of companies can effectively use the data they collect to assist in their decision making, gain a competitive advantage, drive productivity growth, yield innovations and reveal customer insights.
Farsighted executives realize that data is quickly becoming a strategic asset for the future growth of their business. Mike Redding is global managing director of the Accenture Technology Labs.
Square set for 9 Figure Revenues in 2012. It’s always critical to look behind the bright shiny figure. Today, Square announced that it is processing payments right now at a rate of some $4,000,000,000 per year, or $109,58,904 per day. While that figure is impressive, it’s perhaps even more astounding that Square has doubled its payment processing rate (amount of money through its system) since October of last year. That’s less than half a year ago, putting Square on a growth curve that is fantastic; that it has managed to continue its growth rates in the face of a growing ‘big number’ problem is exceptionally impressive. Now, for the fun stuff. Let’s assume that Square does not grow an inch the rest of 2012. This is obvious fantasy, but bear with me. Assuming no growth, Square should, per @Jack’s note, process $4 billion this year. Now, to toss caution into the backseat, let’s do it again. So then, who is going to catch Square? Payleven, The Samwer Brothers’ Answer To Square, Takes A ‘High Single-Digit Million Dollar’ Round Led By A Mystery Investor.
Payleven, the Rocket Internet-incubated mobile-payment service that uses a dongle attached to a mobile device to make and process card transactions — yes, like Square — is today announcing that it has picked up another round of funding, as well as a new investor. As has been the case with many past investments in Samwer-incubated startups, neither the exact funding figure, nor the investor, have been disclosed — except to note that the value is in the “high single-digit millions” of dollars, and that it is “largely” from the new backer. Payleven would not comment on whether this is a strategic investment (eg, from a payments company) or a VC. But, in the process of announcing this news, it did confirm reports of its existing backers — specifically New Enterprise Associates, Holtzbrinck Ventures, ru-Net and the Samwer brothers’ Rocket Internet, which together invested “double-digit millions” in a round last year.
But Payleven also has a unique selling point. “We are Payleven.
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