Friday lunchtime lecture: North Pole Inc: can Santa use data to save Christmas?

At North Pole Incorporated, a data revolution is underway to modernise how Christmas gifts get to girls and boys around the world. For hundreds of years, North Pole Inc. and its global network of elvish subsidiaries have been gathering data on what children across the world want for Christmas, who has been naughty or nice and the latest toy trends. To meet children’s needs, North Pole Inc. relies on up-to-date information spanning delivery routes (by air, boat and donkey), building entrances and exits, fireplace hazards, stocking sizes, reindeer health, movement and feed. The problem is, the global population is expanding and companies like North Pole Inc. everywhere are being forced to find new, more efficient ways of delivering services. This year, a crack team at North Pole Inc. has been working on developing and implementing the data infrastructure that Christmas needs, to keep children happy for years to come.