BIG DATA MANAGEMENT
KPMG | July 01, 2022
KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, announced it is expanding its KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics (MADA) Program to drive practical use of the latest analytics technology and meet its vision of making KPMG the employer of choice where underrepresented talent can build thriving careers.
The award-winning, collaborative, first-of-its-kind program prepares students to hit the ground running in today's data age by providing specialized skills for practical use of the latest analytics technology needed in the current data-driven accounting environment.
KPMG is adding seven universities to the MADA program, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The firm will provide more than $7 million in scholarship funding over three years to the universities participating in the MADA program to encourage underrepresented individuals to pursue a graduate education.
This expansion aligns with the firm's Accelerate 2025 commitments and is one of several ways KPMG is creating pathways for underrepresented future leaders to build their careers in the profession and with KPMG as an employer of choice. The firm will continue to explore relationships with Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities, along with other universities to invest in a diverse, sustainable pipeline.
"Expanding the master's program will help close the gap between academic preparation and accounting career readiness," said Scott Flynn, KPMG Vice Chair – Audit. "Importantly, our HBCU-focused investments will support underrepresented individuals and diversify our profession, better enabling us to deliver quality and innovation long-term."
The firm has deepened its relationships with HBCUs. In FY21, hires from HBCUs have increased more than 40% over the previous year. At the end of the 2020-2021 school year, there was a 13% increase in three-year retention rates of professionals from HBCUs and a 19% increase in the five-year retention rate of the firm's HBCU alumni.
The universities newly added to the program are:
Alabama State University's Percy J. Vaugh, Jr. College of Business Administration (HBCU)
Bentley University's McCallum Graduate School of Business
Florida International University College of Business
DePaul University Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
Howard University School of Business (HBCU)
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (HBCU)
Prairie View A&M University College of Business (HBCU)
Additionally, the firm plans to continue to collaborate with universities that have been central to the success of the MADA program for the past several years.
"We have more than 300 graduates of our Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program who are using their expertise to bring our clients greater insight and productivity in how we ingest and analyze data," said Becky Sproul, Talent and Culture Leader – Audit. "For audit professionals, comfort with both D&A and automation technologies is a core capability that we invest in through our MADA Program."
Since its launch in 2017, the KPMG MADA Program has been a collaborative effort with pioneering business schools across the United States. By continuing the curriculum-focused initiatives, KPMG aims to set the tone for academic innovation and influence the broader academic community to pursue an advanced curriculum that includes D&A and technology.
About KPMG LLP
KPMG LLP is the U.S. firm of the KPMG global organization of independent professional services firms providing audit, tax and advisory services. The KPMG global organization operates in 144 countries and territories and has more than 236,000 people working in member firms around the world. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee. KPMG International Limited and its related entities do not provide services to clients.
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BIG DATA MANAGEMENT
Snowplow | July 04, 2022
Snowplow Analytics, based in London, offers organizations a platform for creating structured behavioral data assets that are suited to specific AI and BI applications while being entirely compliant.
These assets reflect consumer behavior, behaviors, and decisions, as well as the context in which they are made. The company announced today that a series B round of funding reached USD 40 million. The platform delivers AI/BI-ready data straight to the data warehouse or lakehouse, whether streamed for real-time applications or supplemented with third-party data and systems to meet future use cases.
Snowplow intends to develop both locally and globally with the support of this round of investment, which was spearheaded by multinational venture capital company NEA. The business plans to do this by increasing its workforce and offering support for a broader range of data types.
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BIG DATA MANAGEMENT
SingleStore | July 07, 2022
SingleStore, the cloud-native database built for speed, scale and powering real-time data-intensive applications, announced it has been accepted as a Gold Status Partner in Intel’s Disruptor Initiative. The program helps companies push the limits of innovation through technical enablement and multi-channel go-to-market activities. As a result, SingleStore customers will benefit by realizing enhanced database performance and hardware-enhanced security to address real-time data challenges while lowering total cost of ownership (TCO).
"SingleStore is excited to join Intel’s prestigious Disruptor Initiative and to work closely with their engineers to optimize the performance of SingleStoreDB on current and future Intel architectures. “This collaboration helps our customers reach new levels of data intensity with real-time analytical and transactional workloads.”
Oliver Schabenberger, chief innovation officer at SingleStore
In running internal benchmarks fueled by 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with built-in AI accelerators, SingleStore has seen a performance improvement of up to 30%*. In addition, Intel and SingleStore are both members of the Bytecode Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a secure network software foundation, building on standards such as WebAssembly (Wasm) and WebAssembly System Interface. SingleStore recently brought Wasm technology to the database market and has collaborated with Intel to bring this unique optimized technology to market.
Arijit Bandyopadhyay, chief technology officer for enterprise analytics and AI and head of strategy for the enterprise and cloud, DCAI group at Intel Corporation, said: “As the demand for all types of data and high intensity data applications increase, encapsulating complex queries with high ingest speed, high concurrency and low latency requirements, we couldn't be more excited about collaborating with SingleStore to deliver the next generation of real-time data technology on AI – to enhance digital customer experience, improve operations and security, plus generate new revenue streams.”
The effort with Intel is the latest that SingleStore has recently forged with other industry-leading technology companies. Earlier this year, SingleStore partnered with IBM and SAS to deliver ultra-fast insights to accelerate insights for data-intensive applications and reduce TCO. SingleStore growth continues to accelerate due to its unique ability to address real-time applications, strategic partnerships, and investments from leaders like IBM, HPE, Dell Technologies and now Intel.
Users and media see the value of SingleStore, too. SingleStore has been recognized with several industry awards, including San Francisco Business Times Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the Bay Area and the Deloitte Fast 500 awards. SingleStore also was recently recognized when it won in four top-rated categories from verified user review site TrustRadius in May.
Christoph Malassa, managing consultant and head of analytics and intelligence solutions at Siemens, said this about SingleStore: “With SingleStore, we no longer look at the database as a limiting factor in our business.”
About SingleStore
The world’s leading brands rely on data — to make the right business decisions, to deliver exceptional customer experiences and to stay ahead of the competition. This reliance on data brings with it a need for simplicity, speed and scale. SingleStore delivers the world’s fastest distributed SQL database for real-time applications, SingleStoreDB. By combining transactional and analytical workloads, SingleStore eliminates performance bottlenecks and unnecessary data movement to support constantly growing, demanding workloads. Digital giants like Hulu, Uber and Comcast, and many more of the world’s leading SaaS providers choose SingleStore to unleash the power of their data — supercharging exceptional, real-time data experiences for their customers.
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