Center for Enterprise Business Analytics (CEBA)

Enterprise systems in today's modern organizations produce large amounts of data that create unprecedented opportunities and challenges for generating business analytics. Organizations also are gathering "big data" from a variety of other sources, such as:

 

  • autonomous robots,
  • blockchain applications,
  • RFID,
  • social media, and
  • smart devices on the Internet of Things (IoT).

Understanding and applying cutting-edge data analytics tools and methodologies is critical for leveraging the data produced by these platforms and systems.

 



Goals of the Center

 
  1. Engage in 1) scholarly research related to to the adoption, use, and impact of enterprise systems and other data-generating technologies; 2) applied research using business analytics techniques; and 3) research developing business analytics theory and methods.

  2. Develop undergraduate, graduate, and professional educational programs that advance our understanding of enterprise systems and business analytics for managerial decision making.

  3. Promote the use of enterprise business analytics within organizations, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in North Dakota and the Upper Midwest to further economic growth in the region.

 

 

Blockchain Commerce Initiative

Blockchain is the distributed ledger technology (DLT) that uses advanced cryptography and digital signatures to allow for decentralized, trustless, and auditable ledgers that can be viewed by all users in the system. Cryptocurrency such as bitcoin has been the subject of considerable hype, and many believe that the underlying blockchain technology will be transformative in the coming decades. The potential for smart contracts and frictionless commerce conducted without the need for trusted third parties may dramatically alter how business takes place in the future.

Our blockchain commerce initiative examines the ways in which businesses and managers should respond to the emergence of these new technologies. CEBA supports research and industry dialog in this area, and provides students with hands-on learning opportunities regarding blockchain and the ways in which companies can make use of DLT. Our students work closely with industry partners to investigate use cases and prototypes to examine what the future of blockchain commerce holds in store.

 







Smart Device Management

With advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and machine learning we are moving to a world where smart devices are being used throughout the modern business enterprise and in our everyday life. Just as human resource management is used to manage employees at various phases in their employment lifecycle, soon we will need smart device management to understand how to on-board smart devices into the proper location and role in the organization, manage their capabilities through machine learning and software upgrades over time, determine ways to appraise and reward their performance, promote them to additional responsibility, and eventually decommission them when their usefulness has been exhausted. How organizations manage these issues and generate business value from the data they produce will become critical in the future.

At CEBA we are engaged in research examining how organizations get business value from smart devices, many which comprise what is now known as the Internet of Things (IoT). This research includes advances in virtual reality wearables, managing data emanating from smart devices in factory settings and delivered products, and understanding how smart devices provide users additional functional capabilities.

 

Enterprise Systems Education Leadership

CEBA-Affiliated Faculty

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