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.
Whilst on the topic of Business Intelligence on Mobile – most BI Vendors are in the process of rolling out capability for small screen devices.
Recently, BI software vendor MicroStrategy announced that it will provide its business reports and dashboards on Amazon’s Kindle DX reader. Kindle is a simple platform for downloading and reading books provided by Amazon and other subscription content such as newspapers. Since it’s launch, software developers have been quick to look at what applications are viable on this platform.
Since Kindle is easy to use, easy to read and built on 3G connectivity, it makes sense as a delivery platform for business intelligence data.
Microstrategy already has an iPhone app to allow mobile access to reports and the dashboard, so Kindle is another step along the convergence chain between mobile and business intelligence. When BI becomes more accessible, it will become more acceptable. Since Kindle has significantly more power than most smartphones, hopefully Kindle BI is another push along the path to accessible BI.
I expect to see many more business intelligence applications to appear on mobile devices in the very near future – so keep watch at this blog or follow me on Twitter.
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.
BI tools have developed significantly over the past few years, and one positive move is the ability of end users to create and publish their own dashboards. The benefits of self pubishing dashboards include:
Rapid deployment of BI tools to meet individual needs – no input from IT is required
Customization of the dashboard to a user group of 1
Instant update of dashboards to meet changing needs
However, there are also a few drawbacks. Firstly, KPI clutter – too many KPI on a single dashboard. This is a common mistake my many new users of dashboards as they seek to add more and more value. In reality, they are reducing the value by reducing the visibility of primary KPI with a lot of clutter. Just as we saw the aptly name ’spreadmart’ fever, we are now seeing evidence of the KPI Crazies.
The number of KPI depend very much on the type of business, department or role. However, as a general rule of thumb the max is 10. Many dashboards provide all the necessary information in just 4 KPI. The key is to recognize the difference between KPI and KRA. KRA refer to key results areas. KRA’s are more operational in that they refer to key activities and people contributing to a process, whereas KPI are more exact, referring to the outcome of processes that contribute directly to strategic goals.
Consider Albert Einstein’s quote:
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
One of the biggest constraints about enterprises moving data and services into the Cloud is Trust – trust that access will be reliable and available, and trust that their data is safe. Trust is a key attribute of brand, and preivous behaviour of brand owners either contributes to or erodes brand.
It is this very trust issue that puts me in two minds re Dells latest rollout of a Cloud enabled SaaS package to European businesses.
Whilst I am a great supporter of getting applications with low frequency usage and high processing requirements into the Cloud, I worry about Dells ability to deliver. The reason for my concern is lack of trust.
In my opinion, Dell has failed to adquately manage the power their laptops, so why would I trust them with assuring availability of a whole data center in which I would trust such important services as Distributed Device Management, Software Inventory, Online Backup and Restore, Laptop Data Encryption, Email Management and Crisis Management.
I would like to clarify that I am a fan of Dell computers in general, my own laptop is a Dell as are the laptops of my partner and mother – all procured with the assistance of moi. No other provider gives more bang for the buck.
But the power management systems in these Laptops have been problematic from Day 1. And Dell has consistently failed to accept responsibility for this issue. As I said earlier, brand is a big part of trust – and we would like to think that when something goes wrong that is critical to business continuity, we don’t have the vendor shutting down the issue with ‘not our problem’.
Dell – if you are the Cloud service provider it is your problem. And the issues with the power management in your laptops is your problem – so is the very poor quality of the laptop batteries which last little longer than a year.
With availability and reliability key elements underpinning the trust a client puts in their Cloud vendor, I suggest that Dell needs to be more consistent in managing that trust.
When I am happy with trusting Dell with my laptop power, then and only then will I trust them with Cloud services. And that day is not today!
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.
