Contemporary Analysis

04/30/2026

Are you ready to meet the first Speaker of CANalytics 2026??

Drum Roll Please🥁🥁🥁

​Armen Badeer is the Vice President of Development at Agilx Software. He’s spent over two and a half decades helping people solve problems using software, all while quietly judging drag & drop UI and untested code. Hundreds of projects in insurance, sports, manufacturing, agriculture, commodities, transportation (and a few other industries he can’t remember) have revealed one thing…he loves it when a plan comes together.

And now Armen is bringing his highly technical expertise to the CANalytics 2026 Stage!

​Get your tickets today!​ -> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canalytics-2026-tickets-1984103081728?aff=facebook

04/29/2026

The problem with most conferences is that they're sales pitches with a catering budget. Speaker after speaker walks on stage with a slide deck that ends with a logo and a QR code. You leave with a tote bag and zero useful information.

We don't do that. No one takes the CANalytics stage to sell you something. Every speaker is there because they built something real and they want to show you how.

And "real" is the operative word.

We are part of the 5% of organizations successfully deploying enterprise AI that actually ships. MIT says 95% of AI projects fail. We've seen why up close. Bad data. Skipped steps. Solutions that were sold before anyone understood the problem. We've spent 18 years doing it the hard way (finding the right way) and CANalytics is where we put all of that on the table.

We're sharing real projects, with real bottlenecks, and the real decisions that got them across the finish line.

There's one more problem we designed this event around.

Most people doing data work are doing it alone. One person at their org. Maybe two. They're making hard decisions in a vacuum, with no one to pressure-test their thinking. CANalytics is built to fix that. You don't shuffle between rooms chasing sessions. You stay at your table. Speakers come to you. By the end of the day, you know the people sitting next to you. You know what they're building. You know you're not alone.

CANalytics 2026. May 14th. Omaha.

If you want to spend a day with the people who are actually building, not pitching, not theorizing, but building... this is the room.

​Get your ticket today -> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canalytics-2026-tickets-1984103081728?aff=facebook

04/28/2026

🚨 Announcing a CANalytics 2026 Speaker 🚨

Ben Cook is a machine learning engineer by training and temperament. In 2014, he became the first data scientist at Hudl where he started and led the Data Engineering, R&D and Applied Machine Learning teams. During these years, Ben learned to love idiomatic Python, resilient production systems and large-scale GPU compute.

After seven years at Hudl, Ben started Sparrow Computing, an AI dev shop focused on building end to end machine learning systems for startups. He built MVPs for Fast Forward, Docology and Pedal among many other projects. At Sparrow, Ben learned to appreciate the value of communicating technical concepts (overfitting, hyperparameter optimization, active learning) to non-technical founders.

Ben’s latest venture is Harbor Works, a new company focused on managing AI agents for small businesses. Entrepreneurs need tools to increase the leverage on their time without becoming experts in skill writing, system prompts, authentication and optimizing token spend. In this new role, Ben is going deep on agentic engineering (aka vibe coding).

On May 14th, Ben is bringing the Agentic Engineering conversation to the stage for:

*What you need to know about Vibe Coding in 2026*

You're going to learn:
1. Why artisanal software is no longer commercially viable.
2. Why you should expect (and plan for) outages and security holes while the industry learns a new paradigm.
3. Which software development best practices still matter, and the exciting new patterns that are emerging.

CANalytics is designed by builders for builders, and we can't wait to learn from Ben Cook!

Get your tickets today -> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canalytics-2026-tickets-1984103081728?aff=facebook

04/27/2026

The CANalytics 2026 Agenda is set!

9am-12pm AI Workshop Add-On
- How to Build Enterprise AI in 2026 by Preston Badeer

12:30pm Doors Open to CANalytics 2026
- How to Rise from the Prototype Graveyard with Armen Badeer

- Inference Management: What to Do When the Honeymoon is Over and your AI Now Costs a Fortune to Run with Tyler Hayes and Benjamin Zwiener

- Quality Assurance in AI: From Measurement to Trust with Archana Raghu

6:00pm Dinner + Omaha Data Science Academy Graduation Ceremony
-Vibe Coding in 2026: Exploring the Promises and Pitfalls with Ben Cook

Which presentation are you most excited for? 👀

Buy your ticket today -> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canalytics-2026-tickets-1984103081728?aff=facebook

04/26/2026

🚨 Announcing a CANalytics 2026 Speaker 🚨

Archana Raghu is a Quality Lead at Quantum Workplace, an all-in-one HR software platform serving organizations across the United States.

Archana built the company's end-to-end AI evaluation framework in partnership with their data science teams and leads both traditional and AI quality functions. Her work spans test automation, performance testing, AI output quality evaluation, disparate impact analysis, including hands-on experience testing agentic AI features.

On May 14th, Archana is bringing the conversation on Quality Assurance to the CANalytics stage:

*QA in AI: From Measurement to Trust*

During her presentation, Archana will share how AI breaks every assumption traditional QA is built on. She is showing the behind-the-scenes, including:

- How they built an AI evaluation pipeline in production, what they measured, what broke, and what they learned about catching hallucinations and grounding failures before they reached users

- How they are approaching disparate impact analysis for workforce AI using counterfactual testing and what that means for how they think about fairness in production

- The new challenges of testing agentic AI and what evaluating a system that takes sequences of actions looks like in practice

CANalytics 2026 is designed by builders for builders, and we're excited to learn from Archana!

Get your tickets today -> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canalytics-2026-tickets-1984103081728?aff=facebook

04/25/2026

This might just be our most required topic for CANalytics 2026:

Inference Management: What to Do When the Honeymoon is Over and Your AI Now Costs a Fortune to Run

Presented by Tyler Hayes and Ben Zwiener

Meet Tyler Hayes
Tyler Hayes builds AI agents as his day job, and during most weekends too. As Director of AI at Contemporary Analysis, he focuses on AI-enabled workflows and agents for internal and external business applications, and teaches the introductory and advanced AI certificates at the Omaha Data Science Academy.
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He has shipped AI systems into production across data engineering, analytical reporting, chat-over-your-data applications, and agentic coding. New models, new techniques, whatever just dropped — Tyler's usually the one poking at it. With the field outpacing consensus, he'd rather be in the mess than wait for someone else to sort it out.

Meet Benjamin Zwiener
Benjamin Zwiener is a Senior Data and AI Engineer at Contemporary Analysis. Before joining CAN, Benjamin was a Data Engineer at Buildertrend, where he led the team's build-out of a cloud data warehouse and managed much of the surrounding infrastructure. Evaluating and selecting the data tooling his team depended on became a core part of the role, and it's where he developed an eye for architectures that stay efficient as they scale.

His work spans cloud infrastructure, warehouse design, pipeline development, and the practical tradeoffs that come with choosing the right tools for a growing data platform.
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CANalytics 2026 is designed by builders for builders, and we're excited to learn from Tyler and Ben!

See the full speaker lineup and get your tickets today! -> https://www.eventbrite.com/e/canalytics-2026-tickets-1984103081728?aff=facebook

01/07/2026

Happy New Year!

2025 was a HUGE year for Contemporary Analysis and the Omaha Data Science Academy. At the start of the year, we had big plans, but even we couldn't foresee the massive growth we've experienced in just one year.

Here's a quick highlight reel:

1. We host our very first CANalytics Summit, a day I had been dreaming up for years. It ran smoother than I ever could’ve hoped, and seeing a room full of data scientists actually mingling, peppering the speakers with questions, and somehow having FUN while digging into the technical weeds? That was a dream come true. (And it is only the beginning!)
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2. The Omaha Data Science Academy is accredited by the Nebraska Department of Education. This isn’t something you just apply for and get. Accreditation is a rigorous, forensic-level evaluation. It started with licensure and a six-month process requiring 13 documents and an entirely new set of procedures and policies. We had to spend two full years executing those processes before we could even apply for accreditation. That application meant even more reports, more paperwork, and yes, creating even more systems that didn’t exist before. (We even had to build a wall to separate offices and buy a Learning Management System to hold all 135 graduates.) After 1,000+ hours, countless evenings, a streak or two of gray hair, and maybe a few tears, we achieved something very few organizations do.

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3. We grew like crazy! In 2025, it took 18 people to run CAN+ODSA (up from 11 in 2024). Full-time, part-time, fractional leaders, and some contractors. Two AI engineers and additional instructors for the ODSA.

We are expecting that number to be 20 soon.

Get ready, 2026, we're coming for you in full force.

11/25/2025

Airbnb CEO warns against replacing entry-level workers with AI
And Brian Chesky's take is right on the bullseye:

If we don't continue to hire entry level humans (because I feel the need to clarify...), in a few years, we will lack qualified, experienced, or strategic (human) candidates.

Just because you can... Use AI to replace some entry level workers

Doesn't mean you should... stop hiring entry level workers

And doesn't mean it's good... the AI outputs. Someone still has to review them.

​Researchers from Randstad did a survey of 11,250 talent and an analysis of 126 million job postings globally, and found...

"Global entry-level job postings requiring zero to two years of experience have plummeted by 29 percentage points since January 2024, according to research from Randstad based on analysis of 126 million job postings worldwide. The technology sector has been particularly hard hit, with entry-level tech positions falling 35% during the same period."

Read the research from Randstad -> https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/09/gen-z-are-competitive-job-market-randstad/

Reading more on Perplexity.ai -> https://www.perplexity.ai/page/airbnb-ceo-warns-against-repla-Ff1fSsYIToeqNMt4mFifvQ

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky issued a stark warning to employers this week, cautioning against the widespread use of artificial intelligence to replace entry-level...

11/24/2025

Our team is growing!

We’re excited to welcome Robert Wittwer to the CAN leadership team as our new Chief Revenue Officer!

Robert is a proven leader with a track record of turning big goals into even bigger results. Over his career in healthcare software and technology, he’s transformed teams, rebuilt trust across departments, and delivered measurable growth — including leading a $250M business unit to 115% of plan in just 12 months.

He’s known for rolling up his sleeves and making complex problems solvable. At Philips Healthcare, Robert grew a new service line from $4M to $60M in three years and earned multiple Pinnacle Awards — an honor reserved for the top 4% of employees. Later, he built Ascom’s Clinical Consulting Organization from the ground up, earning back-to-back recognition as one of the Top 10 Healthcare Consulting Companies in North America.

Robert brings that same mix of innovation, collaboration, and ex*****on to CAN. His leadership will help us expand our reach, strengthen our client partnerships, and continue building AI and data solutions that actually make business better.

Welcome to the team, Robert — we’re thrilled to have you help lead CAN into what’s next.

11/21/2025

In case you missed it: The OpenAI Recapitalization

Last week, OpenAI finally worked through the long and legal red tape to restructure.

The original non‐profit entity now houses a newly formed for-profit arm (a public benefit corporation) that will handle the money-making business, while the non-profit retains an ownership stake and board control.

"Prior to this recapitalization, OpenAI was operating as a non-profit under strict equity restrictions — a position that became increasingly untenable as the company’s fundraising became more ambitious. In April, SoftBank announced an unprecedented $30 billion investment into OpenAI, contingent on the company’s successful conversion into a for-profit"

Now, OpenAI Group, the for-profit PBC, can raise funds or acquire businesses without the legal constraint.

​Keep reading on TechCrunch ​-> https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/28/openai-completes-its-for-profit-recapitalization/

In related news, OpenAI and Microsoft have announced the next chapter of their partnership. The announcement spotlights how the two companies will share and manage their intellectual property and the rules and safeguards around developing AGI (Artificial General Intelligence).

Read the press release from OpenAI: https://openai.com/index/next-chapter-of-microsoft-openai-partnership/

Microsoft and OpenAI sign a new agreement that strengthens its long-term partnership, expands innovation, and ensures responsible AI progress.