Support for open source software has grown significantly over the past five years. Recently, Forrester Analyst Jeffrey Hammond claimed that open-source technology is now “a de facto standard” for IT, with many companies hoping to save $30K-$40K per server in 2010 by switching to open-source.
Open source solutions are bubbling to the top of many types of applications. Open Source BI solutions, lead by Pentaho offer the cost and flexibility advantages previously lacking in many packaged commercial solutions.
So just how will this model play out? Will applications become commoditized with revenue models moving from software to services? Will the Cloud help to drive this change?
Share your thoughts on this, I am interested to know what you think.
For those considering on-premise BI solutions, compared to on-demand BI solutions, estimating the cost against industry standards is a typical item in the business case. The following tool may provide you with the answers you seek.
A 2008 TDWI BI Benchmark Report, based on a web survey of 392 BI professionals, found that the median capital budget spending on BI in 2008 was $260,000 while median BI maintenance costs were $235,000.
To benchmark your BI costs against TDWI Median across:
BI Software Costs – BI Software, Database technology, Updates & Upgrades, Annual Maintenance
I watch a lot of webinars and every now and then I come across one that really stands out. And one I really would like to recommend is:
A Guide to Building a Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence Solution in the Cloud
Recorded on July 9, 2009 by Open-source BI vendor Pentaho, Cloud DBMS vendor Vertica and BI Cloud systems integrator OpenBI, Ithe webinar provides a very insightful overview how any concerns around performance and security with Cloud have been overcome for use with BI applications. In particular, the webinar covers:
Cloud overview (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud)
Operational expense vs. capital expense project funding
Technology selection
Provisioning BI hardware and software in the Amazon EC2 with Vertica and Pentaho
How a BI demo was created and lessons learned using Pentaho and Vertica
New BI opportunities enabled by the economic advantages of cloud computing
A segment I found especially helpful was the configuration considerations when setting up BI in the Cloud. This included security, cost management, user access, ETL, performance etc.
A new partnership recently announced between four open-source and proprietary vendors heralds a big step forward along the BI Cloud roadmap. Vendors Jaspersoft, Talend, Vertica and RightScale have formed an alliance to lead the integration stack of open source BI into cloud environments.
Jaspersoft – open-source BI
Talend – data-integration technologies
Vertica’s – analytic database
RightScale’s – management software for cloud-based application deployments.
At first light it appears the integration is at the technical and sales levels only. Customers will have to form form contractual agreements with each vendor; each vendor naturally responsible for supporting their own technology. This signals a hiccup in such a fast paced IT integration society.
But the good news is that customers will be able to use the pay-as-you-go pricing model integral in cloud computing. The offer is expected to be attractive to smaller enterprises that do not have a full developed BI capability and to smaller resellers or consultants who will add their domain expertise.
Cloud is also used by larger enterprises for periodic BI projects or experimental analytics outside their enterprise analytical framework.
the future of mobile business intelligence the future of mobile business intelligence.
A Dutch startup called Layar has launched a mobile augmented reality for Android-based phones. The phone uses its own internal GPS and internal compass. Using the phone’s camera, the user chooses a ‘layar’ of information [house prices, local jobs, nightclubs, etc.], point it anywhere you like, and it shows you information about whatever you are looking at.
The possibilities for consumer BI are evident, but it may also be valuable in the corporate environment when combined with other services such as RoamBI.
On a small window and augmented reality browswer adds clarity to the information by placing it in a visual context. In this instance, it is information on buying a house. The software on the phone works in the same way as the software that identifies what music is playing when you are out at a club. By using your video function to view the houses around you, the screen will highlight those properties currently for sale and provide you with the key data. Users can set their own ‘purchase profiles’ in terms of price range etc to help filter out unwanted properties. And with a one touch call to the realtor, you are more than one step ahead of competing purchasers.
It astounds me that even in these disquietening times that businesses are not leveraging their assets as well as they should be. In spite of investment in BI remaining reasonably steady, the business utilization of BI solutions remains relatively low. After a review across studies and articles to validate my own findings the general status quo is:
Business executives are still not recognizing the strategic competitive advantage that analytics tools provide, and only half of executives admit to being reasonably technology savvy in using the tools they have
Of those users who are engaging with BI tools – only slightly over 10% are using them effectively
And only one quarter of executives consider themselves sufficiently educated in business technology
For many companies today – the power is in the information they have about their markets and customers. Yet for most companies it seems that power is neither tapped or controlled. Until executives recognize the need to gain more insight into advanced technology and how it can be used to energize their current performance, this situation is unlikely to change. Too many still see technology as an underlying corporate facility that manages communications and hosts standard operational software. Yet IT has quietly bubbled its way up from the basement to the boardroom, to be one of the most powerful strategic assets a business can have.
I guess if todays older executives refuse to engage with their technology assets, companies will have to suffer the bland performance of today, until their current executive team is replaced by younger generations who recognize the value and engage enthusiastically with IT.
If rumors are true, it is sad to see pioneering BI on Demand provider LucidEra shutting down their service, however in attempt to recognize their value to the ongoing development of BI on Demand, let’s look at what we can learn from their demise.
LucidEra has been a strong evangelist for why, who and where BI on demand had a valuable role to play:
Why – on-demand can be a faster, lower cost, and more effective option
Who – especially small and mid-size, having a solution that can be rapidly deployed on a user by user basis may be the only affordable, and technologically viable choice.
Where – LucidEra also understood the significant value BI contributes at the front lines, such as the sales team and support centers.
Like any pioneer, the disadvantages are that the market has insufficient experience to determine what they want, what they need and how they want it delivered. In particular, BI customers want:
Fully featured BI – not simplified applications. Many early BI on Demand offerings were constrained by a standardized data model approach and standardized reports. This meant customers had to adapt their business problem to the LucidEra solution, rather than the ideal of the solution fitting their particular business needs.
Ability to Integrate Multiple Data Sources – To simplify deployments and deliver quickly, LucidEra started off focusing on Salesforce.com data only. However, many customers wanted to combine salesforce.com data with information from other systems, such as marketing, finance, and operational systems.
Power of true BI – a system is powerful enough to answer spontaneous business questions or identify and address unusual trends as they arise
Scalability – a system that will grow with them as their needs grow.
Did LucidEra make the mistake of assuming that customers would be willing to sacrifice power and flexibility for speed and low cost? If so, they are not alone, as many onDemand applications could be said to fall into this category.
In spite of the demise of LucidEra, this does not signal the downfall of BI on Demand applications. It merely serves to indicate as a painful way for one vendor to learn what the customer wants or needs before they build a service to meet that need. There are other BI on Demand vendors out there doing just that, having learnt from the experience of early BI pioneers and early BI adopters.
Just downloaded a very good whitepaper from Quantivo that provides an overview of how we can dig deeper below our normal web analytics to gain more insight into customer behaviour. Those of you who know me know how much a fan of cloud computing and business intelligence I am, and Quantivo has developed a great cloud SaaS application to enable all businesses to gain access to this valuable insight. I know this sounds like an ad [no, I am not getting paid to say this] – but I am just such a fan of making BI available for everyone.
Identify specific behaviour after:
Purchasing a product
Viewing a page or ad
Interacting with online content
Watching an online video
This helps you categorise each visitor as either “actively researching information, ready to purchase, or simply looking”
Take a quick look at this short video [4 mins]
The application also has an affinity database which provides relationship insight from relevant behavioral patterns to help you identify that big grey hole – the one where you don’t know what you don’t know!
Whether it is buzz, rants and raves, voice volume, sentiments or trends. When one delves into social media, there is the danger you may get lost and never find your way back out.
There are those who claim that influence cannot be measured, however much of ‘influence’ measurement depends upon the outcome the originator desires. If it is to create awareness or get market feedback, then a great toolset for providing that data is web based service application ScoutLabs.
Whilst I could find little evidence that SocialLabs provide real ‘analytics’ as claimed, they have come up with a great way for businesses to cut through the maze and locate the trails of impact that influence initiates.
Possibly a little pricey for small businesses – the lowest plan at $US99 a month to follow 5 search streams will possibly not be sufficient for most – yet the next plan, the Pro plan at $249 a month with 26 concurrent searches is a bit more than many SME’s can support. I would have liked to see something a bit more in between – say 12 searches for $125 a month. This would give more scope than 5 searches and remain more affordable.
But for corporates who pay more than this each month on getting market feedback via surveys and focus groups, SocialLabs offers a great service. Two plan features I do like is the unlimited user per workspace and the customisable template allowing agencies to offer clients access to their portal. Not sure how this works around restricting client views to certain search streams – but worth checking out.
And my condolensces on the passing of loved ScoutLabs team member Matt Ericson at such a young age.
PivotLink have a useful BI cost calculator to help you compare your current or potential BI costs against industry data published by TDWI.
Naturally, on-demand BI vendors PivotLink are keen to provide a comparison on the cost of on-demand BI compared to inhouse solutions, however I congratulate them on helping business and technical managers make this decision. As the author of The Logical Organization, I support anything that helps businesses make better decisions.
So check it out here - it is very easy to use, and you can quickly see how each key component of your BI solution impacts your bottom line, including:
BI software licensing costs
Database costs
Hardware costs
Staffing costs
Note: The 2008 TDWI BI Benchmark Report: Organization and Performance Metrics for BI Teams based on a web survey of 392 BI professionals found that the median capital budget spending on BI in 2008 was $260,000 while median BI maintenance costs were $235,000.
