David E. Douglas, University Professor in the Department of Information Systems at the Sam M. Walton College of Business, recently participated in a big data keynote presentation at the European Decision Sciences Institute annual meeting held in Kolding, Denmark.

Douglas presented alongside Ann Rosenberg and Charles Møller. Rosenberg is vice president for SAP University Alliances—Solution & Knowledge Packaging, SAP AG, and Møller is director of the Center for Industrial Production, Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University in Denmark.

Their presentation was entitled “Big Data Analytics and Resources Preparing the Next Generation of Knowledge Workers.”

The presentation centered on the impact of big data and identifying resources available to academia in support of teaching and research. Douglas said both of these areas are critical for preparing the next generation of knowledge workers. 

Douglas provided an overview of the resources that Enterprise Systems at the University of Arkansas shares with world-wide external academic units. Enterprise Systems has four platform partners – IBM, Microsoft, SAP and Teradata. In addition, Enterprise Systems shares access to a number of large datasets including Acxiom, Dillard’s and Sam’s Club.

Møller’s section of the presentation focused on the evolution of digital manufacturing and the big data it generates and the impact of that data. Rosenberg illustrated selected big data resources available from SAP University Alliances including “The Human Face of Big Data” and SAP’s University Alliances Innovation Lab at the University of Arkansas.  

Douglas and Paul Cronan, a Walton College professor who holds the M.D. Matthews Endowed Chair, proposed the presentation for the conference and invited Rosenberg and Møller to participate.