Business Intelligence Software

Being a Trusted BI Advisor

2011-12-21T08:57:00.001-05:00

In his book called "How to Win at the Sport of Business," Mark Cuban makes an important point that your customers do not know what they don't know.

If you are a Business Intelligence consultant, this means that your clients may give you the worst advice on how to build a BI application. They may understand their business problems, but not how to solve them with BI. Instead, you as an expert need to tell them how things should be done.

Of course, if they are to listen to your advice, they must first trust you. Building trust on your BI engagements is one of the most important things you can do. David Maister once wrote,

"The key point is that trust must be earned and deserved. You must do something to give the other people the evidence on which they can base their decision on whether to trust you. You must be willing to give in order to get."

You cannot demand trust; instead, you must work hard at developing it. Until you have the client's trust, they will more than likely force you to follow their own mistaken approaches instead of listening to your good advice.

See this Entrepreneur magazine article for Mark's comments.

BI Clarity

2011-12-19T09:59:00.003-05:00

On a Business Intelligence initiative, much of your success will depend upon a very special word--"clarity." Here is how one online dictionary defines it:

noun: clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

When performing a BI project, everybody must be clear in their understanding of what is going to be delivered, why, when, how, and at what cost. Ambiguities in the project's mission, tactical approach, or deliverables will lead to failure.

I have recently used a low-fidelity wireframe tool from a software vendor named Balsamiq to reduce ambiguity. This mockup tool helps to quickly define the BI initiative in a collaborative approach.

Not only can business users see an example of what is going to be built, they can interact with it. The Balsamiq Mockup application has simulated links for demonstrating button clicks, listbox pull-downs, drill-downs, and other common user interface controls.

Before any real application development starts, the users can test out your plans and bless the user interface design. Issues can be pointed out immediately, not after weeks or months of costly effort.

Mockups force everybody to put ideas into a quasi-working format and validate feasibility.

I am a fan of Balsamiq Mockups. At $79 USD, it is a cheap way to bring clarity to your BI project.

The Biggest BI Blunder

2011-11-18T06:49:00.001-05:00

Many BusinessIntelligence projects struggle and fail. But there may be just one generalreason why they go south: the individuals in charge did not treat theinitiatives as software application development projects.

Instead, many peoplewith failed projects saw BI as a business initiative or as a financial exerciseand ignored decades of best practices of software development lifecycle.

Jim Collins talkedabout how great companies put the right people on the right bus going in the right direction.

If you try to run a BIproject as something other than a software application development effort, thenyou are immediately starting off on a bad trip with the wrong people on thewrong vehicle.

Wrong Approach

By not understanding that your BI initiative is an SDLC project, you will not followwell-established practices that would improve your chance of success.

You might not even follow basic project management concepts such as the "Magic Triangle"to define the "scope" of what you promise to deliver by what time and at what cost. Experienced SDLCdevelopers understand that in a project you are stuck with three interrelated variables.

Changing one of the following impacts the others.

Deadline (the lengthof time to complete the project)
Functionality (thescope of the project, the features your provide)
Cost (the resources onthe project)

If you need your BIproject to be done quickly, then you must add resources (increase cost) and/orreduce what will be delivered (reduce functionality).

If you want lots offunctionality, then you must push back the deadline and/or add resources(increase your costs).

If you need to lowercosts, then you have to be willing to eliminate functionality and/or push backthe deadline and work with fewer resources.

Ka-Boom!

Experienced SDLCdevelopers also know the difference between the "Big Bang" approachand a phased, iterative roll-out.

BI initiatives are sure to fail when aninfluential person gives vague marching orders such as, "I want anenterprise dashboard where everybody in the company can access all data in anyway they want. And I need to demo it at the annual conference in threemonths. Oh, and make sure it works on my iPad, Bob's Android phone, and Sally'siPhone, and Greg's BlackBerry."

Trying to create an entire complex application in one fell swoop is a sure recipe for failure.

Burning Your Dollars

Successful SDLCprojects follow a phased staffing approach. Not all individuals needed on theproject should start on Day One. Yet that is a common mistake on failed BIprojects.

Imagine building ahouse. On Day One, you only have a plan and an empty lot. The first step is to dig a hole and pour thefoundation. If your custom home builder told the electricians, plumbers, dry-wallers, andpainters to come on Day One and just have a seat in lawn chairs to watch and wait for their services to be needed, you would immediately recognize this as a waste of time and money.

Yet bringing in GUI dashboard developers to sit and wait for the database team to finish a repositoryis common on failed BI projects. It just is not as obviously a waste since IT people look more productive sitting in a Herman Miller chair in a cubicle rather than out front on a lawn chair.

Wrong Expectations

Experienced softwaredevelopers know they will not be successful unless they first have a cleardefinition of the application they are to build. Successful individuals areable to take a fuzzy idea from the business and work jointly with others toproperly define and formally document the specifics of what will be done.

The worst BI projectsare those where the ideas for the dashboard are in one person's head. Thisperson is always frustrated that nobody else on the project is smart enough tounderstand what she is thinking. Without formally dumping ideas from that person'shead into a well-articulated requirements document, the BI project is doomed.Yet it often happens.

Note: read the "Tappers and Listeners" section in the Heath Brothers' book "Made to Stick" for more on this topic.

The first problem ofnot knowing what you are building is that you will create the wrong thing; yourproject has to fail since it can never meet expectations.

There is anotherproblem of not clearly defining what you are building: you will never be done.At some point, the executive paying for the BI project will start to screamabout the time and cost. "Why is this BI project taking so long?"

Well, it was never designed with an end goal in mind and as aresult the BI developers are continuously running a marathon on a circulartrack.

Wrong People

If you do notunderstand that you are running a SDLC project, then you will not employ theright people.

If you view this as abusiness initiative, you will naturally pick people who understand your business. It just seems to make sense to have the guy in Finance whocalculates your business metrics to run the BI project. But without a formalSDLC understanding, Bob in Finance is not going to be able to run a successfulsoftware project.

Repeatedly, I have acertain type of organizations fail in their BI initiative. These have beenthose where their IT groups have traditionally done operational support; theydo not do SDLC projects. They are great at running the networks and keepinge-mail and packaged applications running, but they are not software developers.

When these types of ITgroups get complex BI projects thrust upon them, they typically fail. This isnot what they know how to do.

They should not be blamed; their organization is intentionally designed to provide operational support.

They are inexperienced in software development.Yet it does not occur to the executive that he or she is asking for the impossible from these employees. Instead, the project fails and the executive asks, "Whycan't my IT development implement a dashboard?"

Plan for BI Success

Business Intelligence is a software application development endeavor; without that basic worldview in place, your BI project will fail. Instead, you will jump into aBI project with the wrong approach, the wrong expectations, and the wrongpeople.

A "Just Do It" command from an executive will not make anenterprise dashboard magically appear. To be successful, you will need experienced people following the right methodologies and best-practices to create your clearly-defined BI application.

Boris Evelson Predicts BI Future

2011-11-17T16:37:00.001-05:00

Well-known Business Intelligence industry analyst Boris Evelson documented his Top 10 predictions for the 2012 BI market. You can read them on his blog.

Boris foresees a continuing trend of end users being able to serve themselves with better BI applications. To meet these needs, software vendors and IT groups must continue to innovate and provide what is needed for self-service BI.

Boris mentions innovations that you would expect, such as mobile BI, big data, BI-specific databases, and the cloud.

I found "Exploration" on his list to be interesting. That must mean "whatever you want to do" type of interaction with the data, going well beyond slicing and dicing a predefined cube structure or painting an ad-hoc report from a simplified data view. Boris seems to be pointing to "limitless BI" data discovery.

I also like Boris' comment about how enterprise standardization on a particular BI product or technology stack is not taking place. Instead, Boris says:

"Enterprises will learn to live with multiple BI tools. Forrester client inquiries about how to live with multiple BI tools far exceed inquiries about platform consolidations."

As always, Boris makes good points.

BI Vendors use Communities to Serve Customers

2011-09-22T11:34:00.001-04:00

BI vendors tend to primarily follow a software production business model and shy away from too much services. One reason is financial as they are often evaluated by a metric calculated using dollars divided by the number of employees. Because of high margins for software, this "revenue per employee" or "profit per employee" metric is much higher when a vendor focuses on selling software and not services.

For a nice visualization of this, see Pingdom blog from earlier in 2011 showing Apple with profits of about $420K per employee (almost tripled since 2008 when it was just $151K). Google ranked next with $336K in profits for each headcount; Microsoft followed with a measly $245K.

With that said, software customers still need help. At a minimum, software vendors must provide documentation and training services. They also need to offer a customer service desk to call when clients are in a pinch. Sometimes, customers do need onsite consulting services.

Some BI vendors have found a way to provide services without having lots of people on staff: they enable their customers to help themselves.

Qlik Technologies has a "QlikCommunity" of more than 62,000 QlikView BI users from around the globe. They report having one hundred new users sign up each business day.

Doug Laird, the VP of Global Marketing at Qlik Technologies, says:

“Today’s business users need to make quicker decisions backed by clean, relevant information. This means that queuing up and waiting for IT to generate a report just doesn’t cut it anymore. This is why QlikView’s self-service Business Discovery solution – backed by QlikCommunity – is providing a boost to these users by enabling them to quickly react to changing market conditions. This combination has taken our support to the next level, and is a true testament to the compelling content and engaging experiences enabled through QlikCommunity today.”

Information Builders, the vendor of WebFOCUS, has a similar service called "Focal Point." Their community web page states there are 5000 developers posting 88,000 messages on 13,000 different topics. Information Builders employs some individuals who watch over the postings, engage when necessary, but ensure that solutions are clearly documented for future searchers.

With this type of self-service question and answer forum, BI software customers can search for existing answers to their questions and interact with peers instead of opening a ticket with a support representative. This frees the software vendor to focus on what it does best--building software--and to be more profitable in the process.

Text Analytics for Legacy BI Analysis

2011-09-21T14:48:00.001-04:00

A stumblingblock for businesses trying to modernize legacy computer applications is the sheervolume of program files. An IT organization may own thousands of code libraries,each with thousands of programs. Often, the whereabouts of the original developers of old applications are unknown.

I have found this tobe especially true for legacy end-user 4GL reporting tools such as FOCUS.

Acomputer language developed by Information Builders in the mid-1970s, FOCUSbecame the industry standard as a multi-platform report writer for businessend-user communities. With FOCUS, rather than ask the busy IT organization to developreports, users could build their own.

But instead of beingjust a report writer, FOCUS was in reality a full application developmentenvironment originally designed to replace COBOL. Many enterprising users took advantageof robust features such as online screens, database maintenance, and batch processing to build very sophisticated systems.

Two or three decades later,many IT shops now struggle to grasp what their FOCUS users developed. Tryingto assess the purpose, functionality, usage, and complexity of these legacyapplications by manually looking at each program is nearly impossible.

To assist with this type of time-consuming detective work, Partner Intelligence developed textanalytics software called the "BI Consolidator." Written in C/C++with a web browser graphical user interface as well as a command-line batch processor, the application has two mainfeatures: 1) automated textual discovery; and 2) automated translation into anew BI product.

For now let usconsider only the automated textual discovery feature that called the"scanner."

Text Scanning

Computer programs arenot completely unstructured like an e-mail message or the prose found inside a Worddocument. Instead, almost all computer programs follow a particular formalsyntax which forces them to be at least semi-structured text. This simplifies textualanalytics since we know what to expect (for the most part, anyway, as there can be usersyntax errors and a fair share of junk).

Our textual analyticscanner is smart enough to figure out the code dialect, but we provide itwith some starting instructions. For example, we can tell the application toperform a very specific scan such as looking for FOCUS-to-WebFOCUS conversion issues, FOCUS metadatato find data formats, SAS statistical features, JCL batch job features, HTMLlegacy CGI calls, Crystal Reports features, or to parse SQL commands.

When in acurious mood, we can perform custom ad-hoc textual searches.

While the resultspulled from the text can be just displayed on a screen, it is more useful tosave these to a database and later analyze the answer set.

Online GUI and BatchText Scanning

We started with a GUIfront-end, but when working with a large number of libraries it quickly becomestedious to repeatedly point, click, and run. As a result, we modified the Scanprogram to be alternatively run using a batch script from the command line.

Not only is it easier to use, the scannerruns much faster since we eliminate generating HTML for displaying resultswithin the browser. On our current engagement, we scan close over 200 mainframelibraries containing over 80,000 programs within 15 minutes.

Keyword Frequencies

For many of the scans,the software performs keyword frequency counts. For example, to evaluateconversion issues related to green-screen application development, the scannersearches the text for a variety of FOCUS keywords whose either presence or absencewould be significant:

MAINTAIN
-WINDOW, -CRTFORM,-PROMPT, -FULLSCR
CRTFORM, FIDEL, FI3270(used within MODIFY)
PFKEY, SET PF

To help with theaccuracy of the scanning, we can apply a variety of criteria on searches suchas:

Perform case-sensitivesearch (or uppercase all text first)
Perform stand-alonesearch (or allow the token to be embedded within a string)
Ignore blanks betweensearch tokens (since developers often format code using spaces between words)

Pattern Recognition

Using the results ofthe keyword searches, we can group specific ones together help identify apattern of usage within the application. For example, if we group keywords found during a legacy FOCUS 4GL scan, we should recognize one or more of the following archetypes:

Reporting App = highnumber of TABLE (report) requests but few MODIFYs (database updates)
Online Reporting App =Reporting App with high number of -CRTFORMs (menu screens) or -PROMPTs
Online Maintenance App= MODIFYs, CRTFORMs (transactional screens), and PFKEY usage
Batch Maintenance App= MODIFYs with FIXFORM/FREEFORM (transactions) instead of screens
Multi-Step Batch Job =JCL with various FOCUS and non-FOCUS steps (which implies this application may be difficult to port to a new platform)

Textual Parsing

For some textualanalytics, we actually need to parse the semi-structured code and pull out morethan just keywords. For example, we often find SQL (structured query language)embedded within reporting applications. Being structured, SQL follows a strictsyntax of blocks of code in a specific order of: SELECT; FROM; WHERE; GROUP BY;HAVING; ORDER BY.

This makes it possibleto parse the syntax and extract the names of databases, tables, and columns being used in the application. We can also distinguish between the columnsshowed on the report versus those being used in the selection criteria or for sortingand aggregation.

Standard ContentAnalysis

With these textualcontents extracted and stored inside a database, we can then perform standardreporting as well as custom queries. For example, one well-known client usedthe scan results to perform a redundancy of their Business Objects environmentto evaluate it being replaced with a new web-based solution.

The business sponsor was completely against aone-to-one conversion of these legacy reports. Instead, from the scannedcontents of thousands of reports and SQL files, the client was able to identifycommonalities and reporting redundancies which enabled them to categorize theirBI needs into a dozen buckets. From there, they built a roadmap for replacingtheir legacy reporting environment with a collection of highly dynamicreporting solutions.

In addition to analytics, we have standard reports that help with the operational aspect of a modernization initiative such as parallel test plans.

Building a TextualAnalytics Engine

When companies need tomodernize an application, they often view it as a one-time activity. With thismindset, they might not invest the time and money to build this type of textualanalytics scanner and translator. Because we work with a variety of clientswith this common need, it made sense for Partner Intelligence to create a reusable tool such as the BI Consolidator.

This application has evolved over time. When we first developed it, it handled SQL-based legacy tools. After that, we enhanced it for the NOMAD and FOCUS 4GL. Since then, we have added features for a variety of products such as SAS, QMF/SQL, Oracle Portal, and SAP Business Objects (Crystal Reports, Deski, and Webi).

In addition to the reporting tools, we have added features for handling complementary technologies such as metadata schemas, HTML web pages, and mainframe job control language (JCL).

If you are interestedin learning more, I would be happy to discuss the details of our software withyou. Contact me at my DLautzenheiser at PartnerPS dot com address.

Survey shows European Decision Makers in Need of Better BI

2011-09-20T12:43:00.001-04:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of the enterprise Business Intelligence product WebFOCUS, partnered with market research company Vanson Bourne for insight into how European companies make decisions and to evaluate the impact of those decisions upon business.

In this "No Barrier to Good Decisions" study, Vanson Bourne surveyed over 600 professionals in eight different countries across Europe. Almost all of the respondents (86%) felt that their companies could be making better decisions; 72% felt that a key to achieving faster decisions would be to have better access to information.

However, over half said it was not about more data, but rather easier access to the information already in the enterprise. Forty percent of the respondents wanted simpler BI tools and applications.

The study found that European managers spend over one hour each day looking for information. When viewed financially, this unproductive time costs European organizations with over 1000 employees about 8 million euros annually. The study found that marketing professionals spend even more time than managers looking for data--83 minutes per day (versus 67 for the managers).

Almost all of the people surveyed (88%) feel their organization does not give them the proper tools to do their jobs. 68% believe their company does not provide them with properly formatted information suitable for easy use.

The bottom line? Almost nobody in the survey felt they were capable of making good decisions based on the tools and data provided by their organizations.

Information Builders' Chief Marketing Office Michael Corcoran commented:

"If companies want to increase their competitiveness, they need to improve access to data across all levels of the company. They risk hampering any competitive advantage if they limit the availability of data for business decisions to desktop or laptop users and overlook other mobile devices. In addition, they have to be realistic about the level of control they will have over the devices the data is being accessed on.

At the heart of supporting this goal is the need to create the right infrastructure and support to enable broader access to data over an ever-increasing number of devices, either in real time or using a local device cache."

Good Business Intelligence goes back to the simple formula of providing the right information at the right time to the right person so he or she can make the right decision and take the right action. Of course, this survey shows that executing a BI initiative effectively is the difficult part.

For more information, see the press release.

Starbucks Urges Fragile America to Drop Partisan Government Ways

2011-09-02T12:52:00.000-04:00

Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, urges Americans to speak out against the partisanship in our government.

See his letter.

BI Professionals using Social Networking such as LinkedIn

2011-08-30T11:05:00.010-04:00

In a recent study, Jobvite found that 80% of the people they surveyed said their companies use social media sites for recruiting, with the main information sources being LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

When Jobvite first did this survey four years ago, recruiting through social media was a new idea. Today, it appears to be the predominant method. In fact, almost all (95%) of the 800 U.S. respondents said that they had successfully hired an individual through LinkedIn.

My LinkedIn network has about 2000 direct contacts, many of whom are somehow related to the software industry. Unlike with my Facebook network, I am pretty open to LinkedIn invitations to connect. That brings my "friends of friends" LinkedIn network to over one million people. Of the 120 million people using LinkedIn, I can use my network to search about 16 million of them.

So I was curious to see the statistics for networked individuals displaying business intelligence keywords in their LinkedIn profiles. To keep it manageable, I decided to only look at those individuals living in the United States. I also removed vendor employees from the figures (e.g., for the keyword "Cognos," I ignored individuals who worked for either IBM or IBM Cognos).

Here are counts from my quick research of BI skills claimed by LinkedIn members in my network:

SAS: 59,300 people living in the USA
Crystal Reports: 43,600 people
IBM SPSS: 37,000
Business Objects: 34,500
IBM Cognos: 28,700
Microsoft SSRS: 17,000
MicroStrategy: 8,300
Oracle OBIEE: 4,200
Actuate: 3,900
QlikTech Qlikview: 1,400
Information Builders WebFOCUS: 1,300
BIRT: 1,200
Pentaho: 900
JasperSoft Jasper Reports: 800

Of these 14 BI products, 80% of the LinkedIn keywords clustered around two statistical analysis products (SAS and IBM SPSS) and the software products from two mega-vendors (SAP Business Objects and IBM Cognos).

The other mega-vendors Microsoft and Oracle were not far down the list. In fact, I might have slighted them by not being able to better search for the product keywords.

Surprisingly, I saw a lack of R Stat people in LinkedIn despite the open-source statistical package being in the news and high demand of commercial products--only 126 people in the United States mentioned that skill in their LinkedIn profiles.

With so many people with SAS and SPSS skills, why would there be so few with an open source statistical package?

Supply and demand must be at play here. If the market has limited demand for open-source products, fewer people will bother learning them. The other open-source BI products were also very far down on the list.

Of course, this is just a snapshot in time of the BI software skills in the United States. Some of these skills will decline in number and some will increase. For example, I believe that legacy tools such as Crystal Reports skills will move down the list and emerging products such as Qlikview will move up.

The bottom line for BI professionals is to maximize your opportunities by participating in social media--especially LinkedIn.

To get your own free copy of this Jobvite survey, click here. For a great infographic, see this.

To see my comments about Information Builders's BI product, go to my WebFOCUS blog.

BARC Summarizes BI M&A

2011-08-27T15:39:00.001-04:00

In a free analysis, BARC's BI Verdict site offers a nice summary of the business intelligence industry's merger and acquisition activities going all the way back to the 1994 purchase of Pilot Lightship by Dun & Bradstreet.

You can see it here.

BI and Car Wrecks

2011-08-16T16:38:00.003-04:00

This is the 120th anniversary of an amazing event: the very first automobile accident.

If you do not know about this, be sure to read my earlier post titled "Hitting Stumps." Of course, wrecking cars is just a lead-in to argue that large companies often wrestle away good ideas from innovators and stomp the life out of them.

As an illustrative hands-on example, type in the old URL for Cognos (http://www.cognos.com) or Business Objects (http://www.businessobjects.com).

That's okay, I'll wait for you.

Welcome back. When you tried to go to those product websites, you were instead redirected deep into the bowels of the mega-vendors which years ago acquired those two leading BI firms. Since then, neither brand has displayed much innovation. Both have been too busy being assimilated into their respective 800-pound gorilla corporate cultures.

Few pure-play BI software vendors remain in the industry: Information Builders and MicroStrategy are two that come to mind. It is probably not surprising that these independent vendors have been remarkably innovative lately, jumping into emerging markets such as mobile BI and social media analytics.

But enough about today's BI software, read about the first car wreck that happened 120 years ago.

R Stats Users Group 2012

2011-08-15T15:17:00.002-04:00

This week starts the 2011 useR! conference at the University of Warwick in Coventry in the United Kingdom. Next year, this annual R Stats users group will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, during June of 2012.

And the host already wants an RSVP.

Vanderbilt's Biostatistics group in the School of Medicine must be predicting a large crowd. They have posted a survey focused on where all of the attendees might spend the nights.

If you intend to go, visit their website.

WebFOCUS Closed-Loop Mobile BI

2011-08-15T13:35:00.000-04:00

Information Builders, the vendor of enterprise BI product WebFOCUS, announced today "closed-loop BI" support for mobile devices.

This is not a new skill for Information Builders. From the start, their products have had features for full application development tasks. Not only can their BI product display information content to the users, but it can interact and gather raw data. Closed-loop means that the user can view information as well as change it.

While some organizations are concerned about BI applications that update data, others embrace it. For one Partner Intelligence client, we implemented a dashboard solution that provided their purchasing group with suggestions for saving money. However, if a purchasing decision maker disagreed with the automated recommendation, he or she could click on that line and cause it to disappear from that and future reports.

That "closed-loop" reporting feature updated a flag in the database identifying that piece of information to be excluded from the report. It was an easy task with WebFOCUS, but may have been near impossible with a typical report writing software product.

WebFOCUS also provided a way for that client to enter currently-not-available information. The purchasing person had some inside information about a future agreement that was not yet in the ERP system. Using a BI data entry screen, this person could add this piece of breaking news into the application that would influence the savings advice for everybody the next day.

During nightly processing, WebFOCUS picks up the new information, builds a formal transaction, and passes it along to the ERP system so that this new information can become active. Had the client needed more real-time synchronization, we could have made the ERP communication happen on a data-change basis.

Many people still dismiss handheld devices such as phones and tablets as being devices only good for "consumption." They want to pigeon-hole mobile devices to reading information, unable to process transactions and update data. Information Builders may help change this attitude.

For more information on Information Builder's closed-loop mobile BI offerings, see their press release.

Free Forrester Research on Future of BI

2011-04-26T08:32:00.004-04:00

Endeca is offering a free Forrester Research on the future of Business Intelligence.

In it, Boris Evelson talks about the BI trends he sees for this year and beyond. In fact, Boris predicts that BI in the year 2020 will "be so different as to be unrecognizable."

Here is the executive summary:

Forrester continues to see ever-increasing levels of interest in and adoption of business intelligence (BI) platforms, applications, and processes. But while BI maturity in enterprises continues to grow, and BI tools have become more function-rich and robust, the promise of efficient and effective BI solutions remains challenging at best and elusive at worst. Why? Two main reasons: First, BI is all about best practices and lessons learned, which only come with years of experience; second, earlier-generation BI approaches cannot easily keep up with ever-changing business and regulatory requirements. In this research document, Forrester reviews the top best practices for BI and predicts what the next-generation BI technologies will be. We summarize all of this in a single über-trend and best practice: agility. BP pros should adopt Agile BI processes, technologies, and architectures to improve their chances of delivering successful BI initiatives.

As always, Boris effectively communicates his insight into the BI software market. Be sure to download this free research paper today.

BI Dashboards with QMF Enterprise Edition

2011-04-15T09:22:00.007-04:00

During business introductions, I used to provide people with the exact year that I started working in the software industry. But then I noticed the youngsters in the room would get wide eyes as they did mental calculations.

But just to give you a milestone, I started "coding" after Ted Codd had formulated the System Relational which would be the foundation of an entire relational database industry based on SQL, the structured query language. I also started after IBM released an implementation of the relational database on their mainframe VM/CMS platform, called SQL/DS. My first corporate job was about the time IBM released another version of the relational database for their MVS/TSO platform, called DB2.

Way back then, IBM also developed a SQL database reporting tool called QMF, which stood for Query Management Facility.

QMF has stood the test of time. It is still in use out there on mainframes and has not been forgotten, either by technical users or the software vendor. In October of 2010, IBM released QMF Version 10 with significant new features.

Like me, Mike Biere is a fellow Cincinnati resident who has been in the industry for a while. A senior manager with IBM, Mike recently wrote an article in the April/May 2011 issue of the z/Journal magazine providing readers with details that they might not know about QMF.

For example, did you know that you can build graphical web dashboards with QMF?

This is not your Father's QMF. The green-screen dumb terminals are a thing of the past.

Like the 4GLs that emerged about the same time in mainframe history, Mike reminds us that "QMF was initially designed to be a straightforward query and reporting tool. The assumption was that the information provided to the users from source tables was suitable for reporting purposes. It was intended to provide relief from the constant pressures users placed on IT to produce reports."

Today, IT has new pressures. For example, their business users expect to be able to interact with data visually and through a web interface. IBM has added those features to a new QMF Enterprise Edition for either a rich workstation client (Windows, Linux, and Solaris) or a thin client (Windows, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, iSeries, Linux on System z, and z/OS).

Mike wants you to know about the latest changes to QMF, such as:

New Metadata Layer (definitions/virtual data sources)
Visual, Interactive Dashboards
Enhancements for Business Analytics (150 new functions and OLAP support)
New Data Types and Sources (JDBC support)
New Data Environments Feature
Enhanced Charting Creation and Deployment (QMF for Workstation)
Technical Core Improvements

For more information about IBM's latest enhancements to QMF, visit their website.

Also, be sure to check out Mike's recent book, "The New Era of Enterprise Business Intelligence," which was released in August 2010 and is available in both physical and mobile e-book reader formats.

Living in the Cloud

2011-04-07T11:11:00.027-04:00

I had not really planned to move to the cloud, but I find myself there.

While I am still tethered to Microsoft technology for some important Windows application development activities, mobile devices and universal user interfaces are pulling me away.

One major step in my new life in the cloud was "exchanging" Microsoft Exchange/Outlook. Instead of having a personal notebook computer bogged down with gigs of Windows software and years of e-mail attachments, everything is now available from the cloud using Google Mail.

My Google Mail, Calendar, and Documents are available from any of my mobile devices or from any computer with a web browser.

In addition to Google Docs, I have started using a free Dropbox account, which allows me to store any type of document, access them from any desktop browser or mobile device, and share them with associates by disclosing a simple URL. While I like Google Docs, Dropbox's easy integration with the Windows desktop gives it an advantage.

Many of my favorite software applications have moved to universal user interfaces.

Amazon was one of the first company I noticed advertising the value of this. Their commercials show people reading electronic books on any number of mobile devices: the Amazon Kindle, the Apple iPad, iPhone, Android phone, etc. The announcer says that it does not matter if you change phone providers; you can still get to the books you bought on Amazon.

Another great universal application is TripIt. I can easily create travel plans just by forwarding my e-mail reservation confirmations from hotels, car rentals, and airlines to TripIt. I can then view and manage my itineraries from my mobile phone, iPad, or desktop.

Likewise, software vendor Appigo has created a great ToDo application (based on David Allen's GTD-Get Things Done time management methodology) with a universal front-end. While I used to manually sync up my Microsoft Exchange with the iPhone and iPad ToDo packages, I now pay just $20 a year to keep my to-do lists in the cloud. From this central location, all of my access devices are automatically synced. Like TripIt and the Amazon Kindle, I can e-mail things to a personal ToDo account.

I spend quite a bit of time with LinkedIn, which has a very good web browser user interface. On the mobile devices, LinkedIn does an okay job with their iPhone version but they have not yet invested in an iPad application.

Even my music listening is moving to the cloud. Thanks to my oldest son who gave me a web-enabled Blu-ray device, I can listen to Pandora music streamed through my television. If I were in my den or in my car, I would use Sirius/XMRadio, but more and more I rely on web providers such as AccuRadio or Pandora. Even when mowing the yard, I stream music through my iPhone (sorry, AT&T--but thanks for giving us early adopters those unlimited data plans).

(Note: I will put in a special word of thanks to Sirius/XMRadio for recently rewriting their mobile music application.)

Within the immediate family, we have Windows desktops, notebooks, and netbooks; Apple iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks; Amazon Kindle e-book readers; Nintendo DSi handhelds; Android phones; and web-enabled televisions.

Now that's universal access to the cloud!

Data Security Breach Impacts Major Companies (and Millions of Consumers)

2011-04-05T08:24:00.026-04:00

Dallas-based Epsilon, the marketing services firm that had a security breach involving consumer e-mails, is not disclosing which companies were involved in the fiasco. Reports indicate that up to 50 firms were impacted, including the financial giants JPMorgan Chase and Capital One.

Yesterday, my inbox was full of apologies from major companies (all pointing a finger at Epsilon) such as Hilton, Walgreens, Best Buy, Disney, Eddie Bauer, and The Kroger Company.

According to Rik Ferguson, director at security software vendor Trend Micro, I should be worried. Here is what Rik wrote in his blog:

"Not only do the criminals know your name and email address, they know where you go shopping, where you bank, which hotels you stay at and much more. If you are unfortunate enough to have received multiple notifications, just imagine what kind of profile is now in criminal hands."

News reports indicate how common this type of marketing outsourcing is in the industry. Many companies hand over their customer data to a third-party specialist and say, "here, you take care of this for us." Knowing that, hackers have an easier target; they can go after the little services providers instead of the big guys. Instead of just getting one firm's data, they can snag fifty at a time.

Some experts think that this Epsilon event may change the way companies outsource their marketing mass mailings. See ComputerWeekly for an article.

Just imagine the potential value the hacker sees in obtaining the e-mail addresses of every consumer of dozens of the U.S.'s major firms.

Data is valuable and thieves steal valuable things. They then sell it to other crooks who intend to make money off of the stolen merchandise. At some point, their money-making scheme might involve contacting the stolen e-mail recipients and trying to get access to their money.

Hopefully, you use an e-mail provider that is very adept at identifying scams such as phishing. However, with a complete profile of your buying habits, the crooks can now "spear-phish," a term used for a type of phishing scheme that goes after a targeted victim. If you were an Epsilon multiple victim like me, you will need to be personally vigilant against a targeted scam.

Reuters provides some things to do to prevent being a victim.

This should also be a warning to you about the data you store for Business Intelligence. It is valuable and you need to implement the proper safeguards to protect it from unauthorized access.

Software Advice Analyzes Vendor-Speak

2011-04-04T15:27:00.001-04:00

Hunter Richards, analyst at Software Advice, wants to help you understand your software vendor's marketing language. Like the Gartner Magic Quadrant, Richards positions their marketing terms according to an intersection point on two axes.

Richards evaluates a variety of market terms according to 1) the ability to repress meaning, and 2) the completeness of overuse.

For example, software vendors who completely overuse marketing jargon that is totally devoid of meaning earn a position in the "Gibberish" quadrant (as opposed to "Creative Garbage").

To read the full article and to see where your favorite software vendor falls, see Richard's full article.

PNC Bank Talks about BI

2011-04-04T13:53:00.011-04:00

In a recent February 2011 presentation and round-table in Pittsburgh, PNC Bank discussed their BI experiences. The BI Xchange website provided a summary of that, with comments such as:

Executive support for BI is strong
Purchased a data warehouse appliance to speed BI queries
Standard reporting that came with pre-built applications did not meet their needs
Mobile BI is an issue to banks due to security concerns
Looking into "Certified Reporting" to confirm figures in various reports are correct
Using an OnShore/OffShore BI application development model
For BI resources, start with good business people and teach them the BI tools (and warnings about that statement since there may be a reason these individuals have not chosen to be involved with the technology)

The BI Xchange provides this summary of their organization:

The BI Exchange is a platform for professionals interested in exchanging knowledge, ideas and experiences about the field of Business Intelligence (BI). It is a community of both management and technology professionals with a focus on increasing awareness of how BI can transform the business processes.

We hope that this community will foster knowledge sharing and in the long run we will accumulate a repository of best practices freely available to the entire BI community.

I will comment on just one of their topics: "Certified Reporting." Many organizations employ multiple reporting specialists creating documents with figures that do not match those of other documents. This is especially true in firms where the IT group has not taken an active BI role, leaving the business units to fend for themselves. During one BI assessment, a business reporting specialist confessed to me, "Nobody can prove me wrong."

In other words, there was no easy way to validate or deny the figures he put onto a report. Without a formal standard for business terminology or calculations, this individual could almost make up the results. In fact, when his sponsors did not like the answers on the reports, they gave him different business rules to follow. This is a serious problem.

Companies must formally define how their BI reports are created and have a single version of the truth.

Press Release: New Strategic Relationship with WebFOCUS Vendor

2011-03-31T09:17:00.002-04:00

NEW YORK, NY – March 30, 2011 – Information Builders, an independent leader in operational business intelligence (BI) solutions today announced that Partner Intelligence, a full service BI and data warehouse solutions company, is expanding its role as an Information Builders' Solution partner. Partner Intelligence will continue recommending and implementing WebFOCUS, Information Builders' comprehensive business analytics platform, in customer situations while also tapping the solution to help organizations modernize their existing BI applications.

Information Builders and Partner Intelligence began working together four years ago. Partner Intelligence was already successful, implementing WebFOCUS to Information Builders' new customers while expanding the platform's use with existing customers. Under the terms of this new agreement, Partner Intelligence will now market WebFOCUS to its customer base to dramatically reduce the time, cost, and risk of implementing web-based business intelligence. Partner Intelligence selected WebFOCUS as its BI tool of choice because of its vast experience with the platform and successful joint implementations at organizations like Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., where it used WebFOCUS to implement an enterprise dashboard, and the State of Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS), where the company had automated a legacy reporting system conversion into WebFOCUS.

"When I engaged Partner Intelligence to do a major project to convert hundreds of production jobs into WebFOCUS, it seemed like an unattainable undertaking," explained Richard Smith, IT manager at OKDHS. "Not only was I wrong, but it was one of the smoothest projects on which I have had the pleasure of working in years. If you need to convert code, then Partner Intelligence is the company you need to work with!"

"Partner Intelligence provided expertise and skill to get our enterprise dashboard up and running quickly, enhancing functionality and giving our management a clear line of sight into the company's metrics," said Dave Ascah, vice president, IT Enterprise Solutions at Wendy's/Arby's Group.

Doug Lautzenheiser, general manager of Partner Intelligence, said: "We are excited to expand our relationship with Information Builders and the range of capabilities we can offer around WebFOCUS. Organizations looking to replace legacy reporting systems or implement enterprise BI dashboards will benefit from this new partnership."

"Partner Intelligence has had success automating complex conversions of legacy technologies into WebFOCUS," said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders. "Our customers are quite happy with Partner Intelligence's capabilities and we are pleased with the partnership. With our new agreement, we're making it even easier for Partner Intelligence's clients to implement web-based, enterprise business intelligence."

About Partner Intelligence

Partner Intelligence is the BI practice of Partner Professional Staffing. Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Partner Professional Staffing is a full-service professional services firm, offering a variety of recruiting, staff augmentation, and project-based consulting services. Partner Intelligence provides clients with consultative services, specializing in strategic BI advice, BI application development, and automated BI system conversions.

About Information Builders

Information Builders provides software and services that bring smarter decision-making and streamlined processes to leading organizations in business, government, and education worldwide. The company's software is installed in tens of thousands of locations, servicing millions of users. Its WebFOCUS business intelligence (BI) platform delivers massively scalable information applications, analytics, and customer-facing portals to the new generation of information users to deliver game-changing business results. Its iWay Software integration platform allows enterprises to leverage all of their information resources to streamline internal and business-to-business processes while escalating the overall accessibility and integrity of information regardless of environmental complexity. Headquartered in New York City with 60 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,350 people and has established significant industry partnerships. Visit Information Builders at informationbuilders.com. For ongoing news, go to informationbuilders.com/new or follow Information Builders at @infobldrs.

BI: That was Then, This is Now

2011-03-25T07:30:00.065-04:00

In his blog titled "BI Market Evolution," Wayne Eckerson says:

With an endless wave of new companies pushing innovative new technologies, the BI market has been one of the most dynamic in the software industry during the past 20 years.

...[T]he plethora of advertisements about BI capabilities that appear on television (e.g., IBM's Smarter Planet campaign) and major consumer magazines (e.g. SAP and SAS Institute ads) reinforce the maturity of BI as a mainstream market. BI is now front and center on the radar screen of most CIOs, if not CEOs, who want to better leverage information to make smarter decisions and gain a lasting competitive advantage.

To prove this point, Wayne created a great timeline of the Business Intelligence industry mapping the changes in Users against those of the Vendors.

Prior to 1990, Wayne tells of how companies used 3GL (COBOL, PL/1, etc.) and 4GL (NOMAD, RAMIS, and FOCUS) computer programming languages to handle reporting needs.

He sees 1990 as the point where software vendors began offering tools built specifically for Business Intelligence. Around 2000, the vendors started offering BI applications for managing corporate performance.

Wayne maps out the following key time periods in the BI market's evolution:

1990: Get the Data (data warehousing and BI "suites")
1995: Use the Data (business intelligence platforms)
2000: Optimize Performance (performance management)
2007: BI Goes Mainstream (consolidation; Oracle, SAP, and IBM get in)
2010: Drive Processes (analytics)

What's left in the future? Wayne talks about continued changes:

At this point, some might wonder if there is much headroom left in the BI market. The last 20 years have witnessed a dizzying array of technology innovations, products, and methodologies. It can't continue at this pace, right? Yes and no. The BI market has surprised us in the past. Even in recent years as the BI market consolidated--with big software vendors acquiring nimble innovators--we've seen a tremendous explosion of innovation. BI entrepreneurs see a host of opportunities, from better self-service BI tools that are more visual and intuitive to use to mobile and cloud-based BI offerings that are faster, better, and cheaper than current offerings. Search vendors are making a play for BI as well as platform vendors that promise data center scalability and availability for increasingly mission-critical BI loads. And we still need better tools and approaches for querying and analyzing unstructured content (e.g., documents, email, clickstream data, Web pages) and deliver data faster as our businesses increasingly compete on velocity and as our data volumes become too large to fit inside shrinking batch windows.

Sounds like lots of fun is still to come.

HP in the BI Space

2011-03-24T09:17:00.026-04:00

Might HP become one of the BI mega-vendors? Christopher Baum at Software Advice suggests that it might happen. He posted a great analysis of merger and acquisition choices for HP.

Baum plotted a timeline from 2000 to the present showing HP's acquisitions in five major categories:

Enterprise Infrastructure
Services
Personal Systems
Software
Imaging and Printing

Two of their really big buys were EDS and Compaq, providing HP with more corporate services capabilities and hardware platforms. Many of its recent software acquisitions deal with corporate IT application management. Let's also not forget that last year HP acquired the struggling handheld maker Palm.

Could HP get into more corporate computer applications? Baum suggests that HP might acquire the ERP giant SAP. Now that would be a really big purchase.

Like EDS, SAP is a large services organization (accounting for around 21% of its total $12.5 billion euro revenues in 2010). Of course, buying SAP would also propel HP into the hot Business Intelligence software space since SAP had earlier acquired Business Objects (which had acquired Crystal Reports and others).

Baum also recommends some other choices from the BI vendor menu.

Take SAS for example. Owner Jim Goodnight has been going strong since starting this software company based on a college project. Now that he is about 70 years old, he might want to celebrate his amazing success and retire. HP could offer Jim a few billion dollars as a retirement gift and SAS would be a great analytical tool for HP.

A similar situation exists at Information Builders. In business since the mid-1970s, Gerry Cohen might also be interested in winding down his time in the software industry. Gerry's WebFOCUS is a good fit for HP's platforms all the way down to the Palm handheld. With WebFOCUS, HP might even have a play for mobile BI.

Baum also suggests that HP might acquire MicroStrategy, one of the few remaining pure-play BI software vendors. Because MicroStrategy does a great job with very large database systems such as Teradata, HP might want to consider acquiring both as complementary BI offerings. MicroStrategy is also one of the emerging leaders in the mobile BI space, which could be of value combined with Palm handhelds.

Baum goes on to list all sorts of different purchases for HP. He says:

With all of these components, HP becomes the only firm that can supply end to end enterprise IT, including hardware and software, either on premises or under the Infrastructure as a Service model. HP could supply all of the IT hardware, including smart phones, handhelds, desktops, workstations, and servers. The expanded BTO offerings allow complete control and situational awareness of the enterprise’s computing and communications systems. The enterprise business software would track, well, all of the business stuff. HP can leverage its existing business continuity sites to jump start an Infrastructure as a Service offering. Adobe technology would allow enterprises to encapsulate business processes within documents and 10gen would store it all. Autodesk, Hermes, and Corel would drop directly into their respective business units.

Software Advice asks for your opinion. Go to their website to read the entire article and to answer a survey on which companies you think HP will acquire.

The Three Threes of BI Dashboards

2011-03-23T15:11:00.001-04:00

Wayne Eckerson likes the number three. At least, he uses it alot in his book, "Performance Dashboards."

Wayne, research director at TechTarget in Boston, writes:

One of the most salient features of performance dashboards are the "three threes": three applications, three layers, and three types. The "three threes" provide a convenient way to describe the major characteristics of performance dashboards and a litmus test to differentiate imposters from bona fide performance dashboards.

Wayne breaks a performance dashboard into three integrated application components:

Monitoring application for conveying information at a glance (dashboards for operational processes and scorecards for strategic goals)
Analysis application for exposing exception conditions and allowing the user to drill into details
Management application for improving alignment, coordination, and collaboration

A dashboard can also be segregated into three different informational layers:

Monitoring information utilizing graphical, metrics data for executives
Analysis information utilizing summarized, dimensional data for analysts
Detail information utilizing transactional data for workers

Lastly, Wayne outlines three types of dashboards:

Strategic dashboards for executives (often using the Balanced Scorecard methodology)
Tactical dashboards for departmental processes and projects
Operational dashboards for front-line workers utilizing detail transactional

There is plenty of overlap between Wayne's three informational layers and three types of dashboards. We mess up his "three" paradigm, but we might combine things into a summary such as:

Strategic Monitoring Dashboard for executives (highly graphical representative of metrics)
Tactical Analysis Dashboard for departments and projects (summary with drill-to details)
Operational Detail Dashboards for front-line workers (very current transactional data)

For more information, see Wayne's book on Amazon.

By the way, if you are considering using WebFOCUS to build BI dashboards, be sure to see my other blog posting.

Mega-Vendors Unable to do Visual BI Analytics?

2011-03-14T12:40:00.005-04:00

Stephen Few in his Visual Business Intelligence blog does not seem to have much faith in the mega-vendors to perform in the visual analytics space.

Stephen says:

Big, old, traditional BI companies are good at producing technologies that enhance the infrastructure of business intelligence—more and faster—but not the actual use of data in ways that lead to greater intelligence. Being big, focused primarily on technology from an engineering perspective, and devoutly sales driven makes it difficult for companies like SAP to develop useful tools for activities that support decision making: data exploration, sensemaking, and communication. To meet this challenge, they must shift their focus from technology to the humans who use it—our needs and abilities—and expand their perspective to embrace design. They must commit their efforts to what actually works, rather than silly, shiny features that fill their existing products with smoke and mirrors.

In particular, Stephen singles out SAP Business Objects as lacking "expertise" in providing visual analytics. Basically, all they have is the dashboard product BO acquired long ago. By adding their new HANA in-memory database capabilities, Stephen says SAP just might "enable a faster trip to nowhere."

See the rest of Stephen's comments here.

Dynamos, Cruisers, and Losers

2011-03-13T21:23:00.002-04:00

In his book "True Professionalism," David Maister writes that service professionals, at any point in time, are in one of three categories: Dynamos, Cruisers, and Losers.

Maister defines "Dynamo" as:

You are a Dynamo when you are acting as if you are still in the middle of a career (not a job) and on your way to somewhere. As a Dynamo, you always have a personal strategic plan that you are enthusiastically working towards. Dynamos are always working to learn something new, and are continually adding to their skills and knowledge. They are actively building their practice in new and challenging areas.

At the other end of the spectrum would be the "Loser":

You are a Loser if, for whatever reason, you do not meet the basic standards of quality, client service, and hard work. This slate, whether temporary or permanent, can be caused by any of many possible things: disruptions in one's personal life, a loss of energy, a dying practice area, and so on.

If you are somewhere between "Dynamo" and "Loser", you are a "Cruiser":

You are by definition, not a Loser. Cruisers are fully competent, successful professionals who work hard, do good work, and take care of their clients. They show up each week and "make the sausages." Then they come in the next week, and, again, make the sausages. Most likely theirs are good, high-quality "sausages." In fact, everybody in the firm knows that if you've got a sausage job, you should go to that person. Those people are terrific at making sausages! However, Cruisers certainly are not Dynamos. They are not going anywhere. Rather than working to learn new things, Cruisers do well for the time being by living off their existing skills. They are not working to expand their abilities. They have a job, not a career.

Note that being categorized as a Cruiser doesn't imply that one is a bad worker or a bad person. Quite the opposite: Cruising translates to dedicated, high-quality work. We all cruise some of the time; the temptation to do so is huge. Cruising means working at what you are already good at, and in consequence usually means a low-stress, comfortable work life. Furthermore, it is easier to get hired for what you already know how to do then it is to generate work that "moves you forward."

However, it is equally clear that a professional cannot cruise forever. If all you work on is what you already know how to do, you'll eventually be overtaken by someone younger who will learn how to do what you do, and will probably be willing to do it for less than you get paid. A key to success is to find a way to only cruise (if at all) occasionally and for short periods.

Maister believes that if you view your work as a job, you cannot be in the Dynamo category. When you come in for the 8-to-5 stuff, you do it well and work hard. You focus for 40 hours on making good sausages, because that is your job. Beyond those 40 hours, however, you are not engaged, because you see yourself as being "off the job." With that attitude, you do not qualify as a Dynamo candidate.

Losers and Cruisers have jobs. If you do not see yourself in a long-term professional career, then you cannot be a Dynamo. Maister suggests that the difference between being a Dynamo and a Cruiser is passion. He also points out the manager's responsibility for leading professionals.

More than anything else, a leader of professionals must help his or her colleagues to find the fun in being a Dynamo. Leaders must be intolerant of cruising, and demand (and help create) true achievement.

If you are a Business Intelligence software consultant, you have plenty of opportunities to shine as a Dynamo--you just need to supply the passion.

Free IBM Cognos 10 Book

2011-03-12T18:00:00.002-05:00

If you are interested in learning more about IBM's latest release of the Cognos BI product, download a free Redbook.

Partner Intelligence has Moved

2011-02-28T16:26:00.015-05:00

Because of our company's growth over the last four years, we built a brand new, state-of-the-art corporate headquarters and moved in at the end of February 2011.

Here is our new address:

Partner Intelligence, LLC

4605 East Galbraith Road, Suite 200

Cincinnati, Ohio 45236

If you look at Google Maps, you will see that the Street View still shows a nice grassy lot with trees (hopefully, the Google car will drive by again soon and take a new photo). The satellite picture is a little newer; it shows the construction crew leveling the land.

Located in Kenwood, Ohio, on East Galbraith Road next to the Jewish Hospital, our new location will be easier and more convenient for many of our Partner clients. The space is roughly three times larger and is designed to allow our operations to work in the most efficient manner possible. In addition to more space, the office provides us with top notch presentation, training, and conference facilities that our clients can leverage.

As a technology-driven business, we made sure our new office could handle the bandwidth that a modern, growing company requires. The builders installed fiber optics and the latest Cat6 wiring to take full advantage of the high speed Internet connections.

All of this means that we have laid the groundwork for continued growth and to help our team be even more productive. Already having grown by fifty percent in 2010, we will continue to add team members in every area of the Partner business. The additional support staff will allow us to keep our service level the highest in the region.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Wordle Beautiful Word Clouds

2011-02-12T16:02:00.046-05:00

Wordle is an interesting web application for producing pictures known as "word clouds" or "tag clouds".

In a word cloud, text objects are associated with a number. The bigger the number, the larger the word's font in the picture. A common use would be to associate each word with its frequency in a text (for example, those found in the Kings James Bible) for a visual representation.

As an example, here is a word cloud of my recent blog postings (I'm surprised I use the word "just" so much). Click on the picture for a bigger and dynamically generated version.

In business intelligence applications, being able to visualize content is extremely important. You could stare at numbers all day long and not figure out a thing. But add some color and that might change--bad things in red and good things in green pop off the page at you.

Size is also useful to be able to easily compare data items. Often in reports, designers add a graphic bar whose length corresponds with the figure next to it. The bigger the number, the longer the bar (which could be colored as well to add a judgement of good or bad). These "peer graphics" help the user easily compare different objects on the report, such as Total Agricultural Revenue of Oklahoma versus that of New Jersey.

Visualization techniques of colors and relative size is already common in BI products, but a word cloud application such as Wordle could add an additional user interface feature.

I can see word clouds as front-ends for BI applications analyzing either text or data. Why limit data representation to columns and rows?

As a simple example, sales executives could view their geographic regions on the word cloud based on the size of each territory's current revenue, achievement of quota percentage, or whatever measure he or she selects as the criterion.

For interactivity, we could activate hyperlink hotspots on each of the terms in the cloud and allow the user to drill down to BI details or drill to other related business topics.

Check out Wordle for more information as well as some beautiful examples stored in the public gallery.

[Duh! Wordle uses Java on your desktop to dynamically display the word clouds. That doesn't work on the Apple iPhone or iPad. If that is a problem for your website, just save the cloud as an image.]

Update on 2011 April 21. SM Reilly, a blog reader with a background in qualitative market research, had questions about the value of these word clouds. SM wrote:

I am a qualitative market research consultant investigating the value of these for my clients.

An extra step or two can eliminate YOUR words from your analysis, fyi.

So far, I cannot ascertain that the visualizations are presented such that words are proximate to other words based on their relationship to one another so you can't learn anything about why "dishonest" is near or far from "bankers."

Further, it won't work for short phrases, so "good value" and "bad value" are just analyzed as "good," "bad" and "value" and the good and bad are lumped together with those same words used in other contexts, e.g., "good luck" and "good time." Not all thoughts and ideas are expressed as single words. Also, the richness of the English language provides many synonyms for the same concept. Just look up the word "nice" in a thesaurus.

It cannot distinguish between the same word with different meanings, whether as noun vs verb (weather, wait, buy).

It cannot correct for spelling, so if the people contributing content are poor spellers, then "recieve and receive," "thru and through" aren't associated.

With all of these limitations, can you provide me with support for the value of a word cloud? It's a serious question.

I appreciate SM's questions. Let's take a look at the issues he or she raises.

To create a word cloud, you provide the drawing program with a list of words or phrases and their frequencies. The program draws the cloud, changing the size of each word according to the frequency count. The more occurrences, the bigger the font.

That is all that piece of software is meant to do. That program is doing its job exactly as it was coded. Nothing more, nothing less.

A program that was written to produce a word cloud will be good at only that specific task. Outside of drawing a cloud, it is basically dumb; everything else is outside of its intentionally limited scope of expertise. Like SM says, the word cloud program does not know anything about the list of words you provided it; it just reads them and draws a picture.

A computer program that is limited in its function is far from useless. In fact, we intentionally design modules to perform very specific functions. Like Legos, we then put these modules together to make something bigger than the sum of the parts.

For example, consider the software module inside a e-book reader that only knows how to take text and display it on the screen. Without that limited functionality, the entire device is worthless.

So yes the word cloud drawing program is limited in functionality. What that means, is that you are responsible for providing the word cloud program with a "smart" list.

You need use another computer program that can perform intelligence searches through a textual document. Inside that module, you can put any type of smarts that you need. For example, you can fix all of the spelling errors before counting terms. You can convert Japanese to German. You can identify sentence parts, such as subjects, objects, and verbs. You can consolidate synonyms.

It is up to you to make a smart list to give to the word cloud program.

Here is a personal example. For a major financial services company, I analyzed thousands of legacy computer programs to identify similarities in purpose. Basically, my client needed to spot functional redundancies so that the programs could be replaced efficiently.

I wrote a parsing program to scan all of the textual contents, examine any available clues, and store conclusions into a database. I looked at the names of the programs, figured out what data objects the programs were using, checked the names of the folders where the programs were stored, looked at which users accessed the programs, and so forth.

The process was like a Google index search, but instead of just counting keywords I had to consider the meanings of acronyms, abbreviations, and synonyms. My logic had to translate various words and consolidate things to a small number of abstract topics.

With all of those hints, I consolidated thousands of programs into twelve "buckets." When all was said and done, I could tell the client: "These 350 programs look like they deal with Fraud. These 500 look like Sales Reporting, these 625 seem to deal with Customer Service," and so forth.

Now that list of twelve terms and their counts might look very simple, but the work that went into the list was rather hard. The client could now visually see similarities and redundancies within thousands of complex documents and plan accordingly.

SM Reilly, I hope this helps clarify the use of word clouds. If you are interested in learning more, contact me.

The End of Classic Business Objects

2011-02-06T14:19:00.013-05:00

In his recent blog postings, SAP Business Objects trainer Dallas Marks has talked about "the end of the world as we know it" as it relates to the software vendor's decision to sunset their classic BO authoring tool known as Desktop Intelligence (or DeskI as its short nickname).

The legacy Windows product is going away, and the vendor expects their customers to switch to the web version. To date, there is minimal conversion help and some DeskI features cannot be replicated using Web Intelligence (aka WebI).

Of course, another option is to just eliminate Business Objects altogether and move to a different web-based BI product. To assist companies choosing this type of replacement initiative, we added a new feature to our BI Consolidator scanning engine.

While the utility had always been able to look for specific keywords, for BO analysis we wanted to parse the SQL, extract table and column information into a database, and produce redundancy reports.

From the BO Repository, we copied the underlying SQL from the DeskI and WebI data providers for each BO Document (the reports). A utility parses the details and saves all of the data into an "inventory" repository for later analysis.

The following BO information is captured within the SQL inventory repository:

BO Universe name and a calculated high-level "group"
BO Folder name and group
BO Userid
BO Document name and group
BO Data Provider name, type (DeskI or WebI), and group
SQL Tables being accessed on FROM phrases
SQL Table types (e.g., aggregate aware, summaries, history, hierarchies, security, etc.)
SQL Table groups
SQL Columns being accessed on SELECT phrases
SQL Columns being referenced on WHERE phrases
SQL Column types (e.g., count, amount, ID, code) and groups

These calculated "groups" allow us to organize information into higher level categories for redundancy analysis. With both category and detail data, we can discern which databases, tables, and columns are being used within thousands of BO reports. Tying this repository together with usage statistics, we can also determine which of the BO reports are of high usage and their associated data elements.

In addition to BO WebI and DeskI, our scanning can also capture information from your Crystal Reports modules.

SAP is eliminating your BO DeskI product, but converting your legacy reports to WebI is not your only option. Contact me if you are interested in learning more.

Free Copy of 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence

2011-02-05T16:42:00.003-05:00

QlikTech, the new darling of BI software, is offering you a free download of the 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence. You can request a copy at their website.

Gartner was very positive about QlikTech's QlikView BI product and moved the company into the Leader's Quadrant. Whichever mega-vendors are considering acquiring QlikTech, they realize that the price tag just went up.

There are several BI newcomers to the vendor list, such as Bitam, Corda Technologies, and Salient Management Company. Thanks to a change in rules (Gartner lowered the requirement for the number of customer survey responses from thirty to twenty), Actuate, Panorama, and Jaspersoft were included in the report.

Although Pentaho met the requirements for survey responses, the open-source BI vendor failed to meet a minimum $15 million revenue threshold.

According to Gartner, the clear BI leaders are Microsoft, Oracle, MicroStrategy, and IBM (Cognos). In that Leader quadrant but closer to the line of other classifications are Information Builders (WebFOCUS), SAS, QlikTech (QlikView), and SAP (Business Objects).

There are no Visionaries in the MQ. Gartner lists two Challengers to the Leaders: Tableau and Tibco Software (Spotfire). The other ten vendors land in the Niche player box.

Be sure to take up QlikTech on their offer for a free download of the 2011 Gartner Magic Quadrant BI report.

Information Builders Blogs

2011-02-02T12:39:00.002-05:00

Information Builders, the software vendor of the enterprise BI product WebFOCUS, has started to blog. You can read articles from their corporate bloggers on their IBI website.

So far, their featured blogger is Jake Freivald who has posted several articles this year. One of Jake's topics was the "revolution" of mobile BI applications such as those on smartphones (such as Android and Apple iPhone) and tablets (such as the Apple iPad).

You will need to read this yourself to decide if Jake is taking a "for" or "against" stance on mobile BI. He seems to post a warning about software vendors not learning lessons from past mistakes.

I heard a rumor that Information Builders might even have some type of iPad BI application to release yet this year. We will have to keep our eyes on the IBI BI blogs.

Also, if you are interested in Information Builders and their BI product, be sure to read my other blog dedicated to WebFOCUS. IBI was nice enough to include me as a featured blogger in their blog-roll.

BI--It's all in Your Head (or Somebody Else's)

2011-01-15T15:47:00.010-05:00

Mike Tarallo at Pentaho says that real Business Intelligence is not about software; it is about people:

"BI in general involves many different factors in order to be successful no matter what software or skill set is being used. It requires the knowledge and expertise of the individuals who know it best. This includes the customer knowing what problems they have or want to prevent, as well as the software vendor and/or consultants who know how to provide solutions for those problems."

Mike has witnessed people being too quick to just ask for a specific BI tool instead of explaining to vendors what problem they are trying to solve and listening to advice. If you do not understand your problem, your self-selected solution is probably going to be wrong.

Also, Mike warns that people often do not even know they have a problem, so they are unaware of their need for a specific BI tool until after it has been pointed out to them.

Mike writes:

Business Intelligence is about collaboration, communication, discovery, knowledge, insight, direction and action to just name a few. These factors along with the proper software and services can provide an organization with a successful BI implementation. The software can be part of a specific BI Platform or simply an application development environment used to create business applications that provide knowledge on data. Business Intelligence is not just about collecting data and reporting, it is a methodology in which experts can provide assistance. If you would like your organization to succeed with BI, it is extremely important to understand its factors and learn how to analyze and use the data created by this methodology.

That is good advice from Mike and his "swamp" blog: before buying a BI product, speak with a variety of BI vendors and independent experts. These individuals can help you see your problem in a new light and show you how other smart people have solved similar issues.

MicroStrategy Showcases Mobile BI at World 2011

2011-01-11T12:00:00.001-05:00

MicroStrategy continues to aggressively target mobile business intelligence, especially on the Apple iPhone and iPad platforms.

You may remember back in September 2010 when MicroStrategy switched out 2000 field sales notebooks for tablets. They even offered to give you their mobile BI software for free! If that is not enough, MicroStrategy will send a consultant onsite for two weeks to build your company's own iPad BI application.

I am not sure if MicroStrategy could make a stronger signal of commitment to the emerging mobile market.

For their upcoming World 2011 conference being held in Las Vegas from January 24 through 27, MicroStrategy puts the iPad front and center.

At the conference, MicroStrategy will save some paper by putting their schedule on an iPad app. You can download a copy here.

If you don't show up with an Apple iPad already in your hand, the software vendor will provide you with a loaner. But not bringing an iPad to the MicroStrategy World 2011 event would be like not wearing blue jeans to a rodeo.

BI in the New Year

2011-01-08T21:33:00.004-05:00

An entire month has just passed since my last blog on business intelligence software topics. This is my first post of the new year.

Two things have kept me extremely busy: BI Dashboards and BI Conversions. Last year, those BI activities were hot but going into 2011 they seem to have picked up even more. My BI consultants and I have been traveling across the country either building web-based dashboard applications or converting legacy reporting applications to modern BI technology.

On the conversion side, we are helping companies shed legacy reporting tools and transition to web-based BI. However, I also see firms getting rid of "modern" BI products where the software vendor has failed to keep these clients happy.

Some software vendors seem to believe they are in the catbird seat with existing customers. Once a BI product has been implemented and in use for some time, it is difficult to remove. A false sense of arrogance might encourage a software vendor to engage in less than proper behavior--they do not fear an immediate loss of the account due to the challenge their customer would have replacing the installed BI product.

Our BI Dashboard application development projects have been exciting. Most provide management with enterprise views of operational metrics showing actual performance against budgets or previous activity. However, profit is not the only reason for business intelligence. In addition to commercial organizations, we are also working with healthcare dashboards where patient care and chronic disease management is being measured.

One of my New Year's resolutions will be to allocate more time to this blog.

Ventana Blasts HP over BI

2010-12-11T20:58:00.001-05:00

Mark Smith of Ventana Research didn't mince words over HP's announcement it will shut down its business intelligence product Neoview, obviously bowing out of the BI software market.

Despite the hot market, growing demand for software and services, and competitors like IBM, Oracle, and SAP aggressively pursuing BI, it appears that HP is a drop-out.

Or are they? While Mark seems to think HP management is rather clueless about the BI software industry, he also suggests that they might actually stay in the game by acquiring one of the remaining smaller BI vendors--MicroStrategy, Actuate, Information Builders, or QlikTech.

Could it be that HP is tossing out one BI product but intends to buy another?

QlikTech's QlikView is a hot up-and-coming BI product that HP might be able to acquire at a reasonable price (unless they wait too long). Actuate is a Java-based reporting tool that is probably a better fit for another vendor, such as Oracle.

MicroStrategy and Information Builders have similar server-based web BI architectures and either could be right for HP. But MicroStrategy is publicly traded while Information Builders is privately held by the same founding owners from the 1970s. HP and IBI could pair up nicely.

Mark offers his best wishes to HP and told them to call if they have any questions about BI. See the whole story on the Information Management website.

2011 February Update: After dropping Neoview, HP wasted no time to pick up another BI product. On Valentine's Day, they acquired Vertica, a vendor of new-fangled database software. See Barry Devlin's blog for his thoughts.

Dell does Tablet Computing

2010-12-11T13:53:00.003-05:00

I hate to part with my four-year old Dell Latitude notebook, but now that the E key is causing me grif, I am rady to gt a nw on.

While looking for a replacement, I came across the new Dell "convertible" called the Inspiron Duo -- it switches between being a netbook and a touchscreen tablet. Like an Apple iPad, accessories like speakers convert it even further into an entertainment center.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Dell priced this tablet computer just below the Apple iPad. See it here.

University takes iPad into Trenches of Pompeii

2010-12-11T12:22:00.021-05:00

Years ago I took an archaeology course at the University of Cincinnati. At the time, the professor considered the appropriate technology choices for recording ancient finds a clipboard, paper, and pencil.

Using a gridded piece of paper you brought to the dig site, you drew a major physical landmark as a reference point in a topmost grid and then marked all of your dig finds relative to that spot. This sheet of paper became a valuable work artifact for the archaeological project.

Of course, your paper might get dirty, wet, partially destroyed, or lost. Plus, somebody later had to decipher and transfer all of your pencil marks into an electronic document for computerized analysis.

The common archaeological task of recording field data is changing. To this point, computers have not been portable or durable enough to take down into a dirty pit nor have they had adequate battery life. Today, touch-screen tablets may have overcome those issues and could provide a great platform for dirty field work.

On a recent project, the University of Cincinnati adopted the Apple iPad to simplify the massive data collection involved with archaeology. Steven Ellis, the assistant professor of classics at UC, used a half-dozen iPads to digitize his team's findings from excavating an entire neighborhood in Pompeii.

The team used iPad apps such as FMTouch, Pages, iDraw, and OmniGraffle.

For more information, read about the Pompeii project in general and the use of iPads on the project, or see the UC case study on the Apple website.

Enterprise Mobile Today Article - Mobile BI on the Apple iPad

2010-12-08T20:18:00.002-05:00

See Gerry Blackwell's recent Enterprise Mobile Today article on using the Apple iPad for BI. He asks the question, why isn't your BI vendor doing mobile business intelligence on the iPad?

Gerry and I had talked about my opinions why the iPad was a great platform for business intelligence. Gerry also investigated a variety of BI products already available on the iPad, such as Extended Results' PushBI, MeLLmo's Roambi, MicroStrategy, and QlikTech's QlikView.

Rather than being locked into any particular front-end, smart companies today are looking for BI applications to become "universal." BI should not just be on the desktop. You should be able to get to the information on your phone or mobile device, regardless of the brand you selected.

BI Consolidator FAQs

2010-12-02T09:54:00.022-05:00

This past year, the Partner Intelligence team has kept busy converting legacy reporting applications into web-based BI products.

With the business intelligence market consolidation of the big mega-vendors (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP) and an industry move to web-based reporting products, companies are replacing their legacy reporting applications with modern technologies. Many of these application conversions have also involved platform changes.

Converting these large applications manually would take too long, cost too much, and be too risky. Because of that, we automate as much of the process as possible.

I get asked lots of questions about how we accomplish this seemingly impossible task, so here are my responses to some common FAQs.

What is DAPPER?

DAPPER is a toll-gate project methodology for addressing the complexity of converting legacy reporting applications into modern enterprise web-based BI products. DAPPER is an acronym for our major conversion steps: Discovery, Analysis, Pilot Project, Project Plan, Execute Plan, and Retire Legacy Product.

What is the BI Consolidator?

The BI Consolidator is a proprietary web-based software application that automates many of the tasks performed during a legacy BI conversion. Written in C/C++, the application is quite small and fast -- the entire application takes less than 4 megabyte of disk space. Depending on the technology being converted, the software can process hundreds if not thousands of programs per minute.

What is the BI Consolidator Scanner?

During initial Discovery and Analysis steps, we use a feature of the BI Consolidator to scan legacy BI application and inventory the details within a data repository. Using software to perform this activity dramatically reduces the manual effort, cutting down on the time and cost of performing upfront conversion analysis. This database provides details for scoping the work effort and performing the later conversion tasks. Using scanned inventory data, we can automatically generate analysis and project-related documents.

Does the BI Consolidator scan company data?

The BI Consolidator only scans application code such as program logic, metadata, web launch pages, batch jobs, and so forth. It does not scan any of the underlying data. Partner Intelligence does not use client scanned application data for any purpose other than to perform the conversion engagement.

What is the BI Consolidator Converter?

When executing the conversion plan, we use a feature of the BI Consolidator application which can read legacy code and automatically translate the syntax to a web-based alternative.

From which reporting languages does the BI Consolidator currently convert?

We have used the BI Consolidator in client engagements to convert SQL, QMF/SQL, NOMAD 4GL, FOCUS 4GL, Oracle Portal, and Crystal Reports. We are currently investigating parsing other languages such as IBM Cognos Impromptu and SAS.

To which BI products does the BI Consolidator currently convert?

Currently, we convert legacy reporting applications into WebFOCUS, the enterprise BI product from Information Builders. We are also investigating a new generator capable of producing IBM Cognos.

Is your conversion process "Point-to-Point" or do you have a "Canonical?"
Okay, this question came from a really smart person. Rephrased, the question is: does your conversion tool only work with specific combinations (such as NOMAD-to-WebFOCUS) or does it translate the old language into a standard (a "canonical") and then re-translate that to another language (and is then theoretically anything-to-anything)? The answer is that we started out with some point-to-point features but have since moved to a true canonical translation process. We have parsers that understand how to read a legacy language and convert it to the canonical. We then have generators that can read the canonical and generate the web-based BI syntax.

What languages can the BI Consolidator scan?

We can quickly create scanning capabilities for any text-based language. In addition to the languages that the BI Consolidator can currently convert, we also have scanning capabilities for SAS, Brio SQR, RPG, COBOL, and others. As an example, for the SAS product we can automatically determine the complexity of applications by scanning for statistical analysis procedures, screens, output file creation, reports, database updates, and so forth. If you have a little-used reporting tool that is in a simple text format (let's say something like mainframe CA/EARL or DYL/280), then we can still put together a scanner feature within a day.

What else can the BI Consolidator do?

We have also enhanced the conversion application to perform general mass-string conversions and specific conversion tasks. For example, we automated the conversion of changing hundreds of userids from mainframe security to Active Directory. We translated hundreds of HTML web pages using CGI calls to instead use Java servlets. We translated hundreds of mainframe batch jobs (MVS JCL) to call WebFOCUS instead of FOCUS.

Does it work?

Absolutely. The predecessor of the BI Consolidator was first created and used successfully in the early 1990s for a large consumer goods product firm here in Cincinnati. About ten years later, the concept was rewritten into a web-based application. During one of the first engagements of the next generation, a Fortune 50 financial services firm won a ComputerWorld award for automating hundreds of legacy mainframe ad-hoc report user libraries to a web-based BI product. Estimated to take years and cost millions of dollars, the project was instead done in three months at a fraction of the cost. Since then, we have successfully used the software at other well-known companies and government agencies. If you would like, you can talk with our happy clients.

How much does the BI Consolidator cost?

Partner Intelligence does not sell the BI Consolidator as a formal software product. Instead, our consultants use it on our services engagements to speed the project.

Where is the BI Consolidator installed?

We do not install the BI Consolidator within the customer's environment. It is only used on a stand-alone notebook belonging to Partner Intelligence.

How can my company benefit from DAPPER and BI Consolidator?

If you have a legacy reporting application that needs to be converted to a web-based product as quickly, safely, and cost-effectively as possible, please contact Eric Bulmahn at Partner Intelligence. We work directly with the company using the BI software or with their services partners who need assistance reducing the time, cost, and risk of performing legacy conversions.

Big Blue Knows How to Blog

2010-11-12T16:01:00.007-05:00

IBM does a great job supporting employees who have personal blogs. While other vendors might try to police what employees and/or partners say publicly (or just shut them down completely), IBM actively helps internal bloggers.

IBM started an internal blogging site called BlogCentral in 2003. IBM realizes it is in the company's best interest for employees not only to learn personally but to contribute to others' learning. Knowledge stored in one person's head only is of limited corporate value; if you can get each person to formally document his or her know-how then many others might benefit.

Of course, IBM does not want a creative writing free-for-all. The company has put together formal guidelines for those individuals with personal web blogs read by the public. Basic advice from Big Blue to their employee bloggers includes: be yourself, add value, don't pick fights, and don't forget your day job.

While investigating IBM's blogging practices, I also came across an interesting research paper on IBM's Blog Muse, a tools to help connect individuals looking for specific content with those who could provide it. See the document here.

See the IBM public blog site for more information.

Facebook Modernizing to C++

2010-11-12T14:22:00.014-05:00

Facebook is improving its website by converting PHP, a web scripting language, to the low-level C++ language. I'm shouting hallelujahs!

Worried that C++ was too dangerous for the web in the early 1990s, the software industry ripped out scary features, made it run from a managed server, and renamed it Java.

Almost a decade ago, I searched everywhere for books on how to write C++ web programs and could not find a thing. Due to my obstinate nature, I moved forward anyway and created my own custom C++ modules to communicate with web servers and dynamically generate HTML. Today, my browser-based automated BI translation tools all utilize a simple C++ web architecture. They are super fast and function effectively.

Using plain old C/C++ for web applications is a great idea but few seem to know about it. I am happy to see that big-name companies like Facebook are on board with it.

See the Facebook story here.

Eponymous Pickle Blog

2010-11-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

Here it is the middle of November and Franz Dill has blogged over 1220 times this year -- that is about five times every workday. And Franz is not like Guy Kawasaki with automated tools to generate random posts (sorry, Guy).

Franz manually writes each day on his Eponymous Pickle blog, providing readers with high quality content related to emerging technologies.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with Franz this week and learn more about his work.

At the beginning of 2005, Franz started his personal blog, but was already a professional blogger for the Procter & Gamble Company where he was a chief scientist and an emergent technologist. Franz wrote content for P&G's innovation centers, which specialize in consumer product research and development.

Franz often writes articles of interest to individuals interested in Business Intelligence software. For example, please see the following:

Data Mining for Education
SpotFire on the Apple iPad
New Data Visualization Tool
Cindi Howson on Cool BI

Ventana Research Names IBI a Leader

2010-11-12T13:44:00.000-05:00

Ventana Research recently named Information Builders, the software vendor of the WebFOCUS BI product, one of their vendor technology leaders. For more information, see the IBI press release.

Do you use WebFOCUS?

2010-11-12T13:24:00.009-05:00

If you use the WebFOCUS BI product from Information Builders (or want to compare it to the leading BI software products available on the market such as IBM Cognos, SAP Business Objects, SAS, Oracle OBIEE, MicroStrategy, or Actuate and need to understand the differences to make a purchasing decision), be sure to see my other blog which is dedicated to the WebFOCUS technology.

Contact me at DLau....

Where are the BI Jobs?

2010-11-01T15:52:00.013-04:00

Every so often, I skim through the Business Intelligence software jobs posted in Monster and file away some numbers in a spreadsheet.

Do you know where 80% of the BI jobs are?

It's probably obvious, but these openings are consolidated into some mega-vendors--SAS, SAP, IBM, and Microsoft. Here are my unofficial, unscientific counts:

SAS -- 25.7% of the BI jobs that I tracked for major vendors (non-open source)
SAP BusinessObjects -- 17.38% (does not include Crystal Reports)
IBM Cognos -- 15.67%
Crystal Reports -- 12.86%
Microsoft Reporting Services -- 9.79%

SAP BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports
Okay, here's the problem. I may be counting SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports jobs in two different categories. If the jobs for BusinessObjects and Crystal Reports were mutually exclusive, then SAP would be the clear winner with over 30% of the BI jobs. But I suspect that many Crystal Reports job postings have BO.

Personally, I'm shocked that Crystal Reports demand is so high. It's slightly down from when I started tracking it in January 2009, but showing a nice increase from January 2010. Hmm, here is a legacy Windows-based desktop reporting tool that is generating job growth. This comes at a time when some companies tell me they are getting rid of Crystal Reports.

But one of my healthcare clients clued me in on something else happening. He is hiring three Crystal Reports developers despite owning a web-based enterprise BI product. Why? Because his organization is implementing a new EPIC healthcare system that comes with...drum-roll...Crystal Reports.

Getting your software product embedded inside other vendors' packaged applications is a winning business approach. Just ask Oracle. But wait, where is mega-vendor Oracle on the BI job list?

Oracle
Perhaps I'm not fair to Oracle in how I search for BI jobs. I want to filter out the gazillion Oracle database and application jobs out there and only count the business intelligence ones. To do that, I just look for "OBIEE." Right or wrong, those only add up to about 2% of the total BI jobs, but the figure has doubled since I started watching.

MicroStrategy
I should also mention that demand for MicroStrategy skills is right there above Oracle OBIEE.

IBM Cognos
IBM wants to be your one-stop business shop for all things computer related. Before IBM acquired the company, Cognos had already transitioned into a billion dollar BI success. It is no wonder that job demand is high for IBM Cognos products.

SAS
Should we be awed by the tremendous demand for SAS BI professionals? There are almost 1800 postings in Monster for SAS jobs, accounting for a quarter of all the BI jobs for all the vendor products. Parents, send your kid to a statistics course!

Other BI Vendors
I don't want to embarrass the BI vendors at the bottom of the list. But why is that -- how can a leading BI vendor have such little demand for its product in the job market? I imagine they would tell me that their product is so easy to use that companies can use existing employees (LOL).

Legacy Reporting Tools and Open Source
Surprisingly, some old legacy reporting tools are still out there in slight demand but obviously declining--Brio and SQR are examples. For the open-source technologies (for example, BIRT and Pentaho), those just don't seem to be going anywhere quickly.

Emerging: QlikTech's QlikView
One BI product toward the bottom of the job list deserves attention. Watch out for QlikTech's QlikView. Demand for that at the beginning of 2010 was pretty much non-existent (but in January 2009 I might have looked only for company and not product name), but not so today. Companies are buying it and QlikTech is moving into the hot mobile BI tablet marketspace with an Apple iPad application.

Mobile BI
Speaking of which, at the beginning of 2010 I also started tracking job postings for iPhone. The number of openings has since then almost doubled. The same thing has happened with iPad jobs (and I didn't look until mid-2010). If you are looking for a fun job in a hot software arena, consider the mobile space.

I will keep an eye on Monster for BI jobs for you. I am interested in your thoughts so please post comments.

Disappearing Business Intelligence Products

2010-10-30T09:36:00.038-04:00

A recent conversation with a Business Intelligence software vendor did not go well for me. I told them that I knew of close to a dozen local companies who had either already eliminated their BI product or were planning to do so. I saw it as a disturbing trend and asked how I could help.

They did not deny the facts. Instead, they took my comment as a personal attack and never want to talk to me again.

I truly feel sorry for sales people working for BI software vendors. It is a tough job even for the market leaders, much less the underdogs. Sales people must often sell brand new innovations that nobody else has yet bought, recent technology that may or may not yet have any referenceable accounts, or legacy products that other companies are getting rid of.

By the nature of their jobs, software sales people are forced to ignore reality. Their sole responsibility is to sell their company's product A, B, or C. Just figure out how to make people buy it. If they can't, they are put on the infamous "performance improvement plan" (which is BI vendorspeak for "You have three months to find another job").

Software sales reps have to pretend that their product is the right one for the prospect and keep pushing the decision maker for a purchase. That is a tough job and I sympathize with what they go through.

My personal problem is that sales people who have to ignore facts hate people like me who point out the facts.

Which reminds me of a funny story. Presenting at a seminar, a vendor rep claimed, "After implementing our software, company ABC saw a 300% decrease in project costs!" A hand immediately went up in the crowd. "I'm sorry, but if you eliminate all costs that is a 100% savings. How is it possible to reduce costs by 300%?" The perturbed sales rep countered with, "I'll send you the white paper."

Facts get in the way of a good sales pitch.

Sales people do not want to discuss problems customers are having with their software. They do not want to know about bugs in their products.

But that's not completely true. More correctly, sales people do not want their prospects and customers to hear any negatives. If I have the audacity to point out troubling facts to the BI vendor, they are worried I will pass that along to the market in general.

Sales reps should remember Sun-Tzu's famous saying, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." I have never heard anybody recommend "Take a hike, jerk" as a life mantra.

The BI software market is consolidating. The mega-vendors (IBM, SAP, Microsoft, and Oracle) purchased the pure BI vendors that will survive into the future. SAS leads the statistical BI market as a pure BI vendor, but the other BI firms face tough times.

In general, companies are replacing their existing BI products with those from the mega-vendor list. Legacy reporting tools are being eliminated and replaced with modern technologies. If a vendor's BI product did not make the jump to the web, it is probably dead.

If that BI tool is not prepared to move onto mobile tablet computing, it might also be headed for the scrap heap. Howard Dresner points out a predictive fact in a recent study on mobile BI. A third of the people he surveyed said they would move to new technology that supported mobile BI.

Don't you just hate facts?

The Forrester Wave Q4 2010 for Enterprise BI Platforms

2010-10-28T10:08:00.009-04:00

Looking at my blog statistics, I see people searching the web for a list of hot BI companies and products. Many want a comparison of the different technologies available so that they can make a better purchasing decision.

One of the best ways to understand the BI software market is to pay for some research from the industry analysts, such as Gartner, Forrester Research, and Yankee Group. Their reports may cost you from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.

If you can't afford the details, you can often find high-level summaries that give away the highlights for free.

For example, Boris Evelson at Forrester Group recently released his latest research on Enterprise BI Platforms. You can find out more about the Q4 2010 Forrester Wave on Boris' Information Management blog.

As expected, Boris points out that the mega-vendors continue to be the clear Business Intelligence leaders. However, it is not just about their software products; they are able to provide customers with "overall information management functionality."

IBM Cognos
SAP BusinessObjects
Oracle
SAS

In this release, Boris has upgraded some other familiar vendor names into the Leaders category:

Information Builders
Microsoft
MicroStrategy

Outside of these premier Leaders, Boris has categories for a runner-up "Strong Performer" and a lurking bunch of "Contenders." Already in the Strong Performer group were:

TIBCO Spotfire
Actuate

Boris moved two BI players out of their Contender role and into the Strong Performer group:

QlikTech
Panarama Software

The mega-vendors clearly provide an entire "stack of technologies" that includes hardware, software, and complementary products and services. They want you to buy everything from them as the sole preferred vendor.

While that might be a safe enterprise decision, Boris recommends considering privately-held Information Builders as a serious alternative to the very large vendors. IBI has its own integrated stack of BI products:

Universal Metadata and Data Access Layer
WebFOCUS Reporting Server for web-based on-demand access
User interfaces for the entire enterprise of varying needs
WebFOCUS Distribution Server/ReportCaster for automated information delivery
iWay Software ETL for batch data movements
iWay Software Service Manager for real-time data movements
Database update capabilities
Custom database
Broad support for multiple platforms, databases, and web technologies

Boris also points out that SAS "continues to amaze the market with uninterrupted 32-year growth." It is truly awe-inspiring that Jim Goodnight took a college project for analyzing agriculture and turned it into a multi-billion dollar product. SAS is truly the stuff software legends are made of.

Keep an eye on QlikTech which has been a darling in Europe and is starting to be hot here in the United States. Boris acknowledges QlikTech as a real BI vendor following its successful IPO.

Be sure to see Boris' complete research, including the detail 147 evaluation criteria and vendor specifics.

Apple Prepares iPad for the Enterprise

2010-09-18T18:30:00.008-04:00

In the 1990s, some of Microsoft's software products were not considered for wide enterprise usage. Take SQL Server, for example. It was okay for small departmental solutions, but for large amounts of data you had to use Oracle or DB2. Microsoft changed all of that and became a major corporate IT vendor.

Watch Apple do something similar with the iPad. Readers of my blog have commented that Apple is just a consumer company and will not really get into the corporate enterprise computing arena.

I think the times they are a changing.

Here is an indication that Apple is serious about winning in both the consumer and enterprise markets. In November 2010, Apple will release the new iOS 4.2 operating system for the iPad.

Apple is adding the following corporate features to their tablet computer:

Data Protection (encrypted e-mails, attachments, and API calls)
Wireless App Distribution (your company's very own WiFi App Store)
Improved Corporate Mail (better support for Microsoft Exchange)
Mobile Device Management (like how IT locked down business mobile phones)
SSL VPN Support (secure connections to enterprise resources)
WiFi Printing (background Print Center applications)

Of course, Apple isn't the only tablet maker eyeing the enterprise. Microsoft and HP want their mobile products selling inside corporations and are sure to announce similar enterprise features. Apple needed to preempt those guys.

The bottom line here is that mobile tablet business computing is coming to your organization!

Are you ready?

Hiring Manager of Talent Acquisition and Training in Cincinnati, Ohio

2010-09-16T15:34:00.000-04:00

To prepare for its continued growth, Partner Professional Staffing, the parent company of Partner Intelligence, is hiring a Manager of Talent Acquisition and Training at its Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters.

For more information, see this link.

Tweeting BI versus Blogging BI

2010-09-16T15:25:00.003-04:00

Lately, I have been buried up to my neck in a large consulting engagement to automatically convert Crystal Reports applications to use a modern web-based BI product.

Large software rationalization and modernization projects typically cost millions of dollars and take years to complete, but we are working hard on this one to automate most of the manual effort.

By the time I get back to the hotel room each night, I have little energy to write blog entries. At a minimum, I have tried to do some quick tweets from my Apple iPad.

If you do not follow me on Twitter, here are some of the things you may have missed:

Notre Dame evaluating iPads as textbook replacements.
See: http://lnkd.in/Xw98wr

MicroStrategy COO tells why tablets are here to stay.
See: http://lnkd.in/7-FuB9

Ohio bans government IT offshoring.
See: http://lnkd.in/vg9Af9

One of top IT skills in 2011? BI.
See: http://lnkd.in/KupuY8

SAS eyes BI growth in India.
See: http://lnkd.in/dKWAhJ

The Tablet War.
See: http://lnkd.in/jFx3X9

MicroStrategy BI vendor switches to iPads.
See: http://lnkd.in/zVPZ9c

American workers: be high-skilled or be left behind.
See: http://lnkd.in/HQKRcG

Free Audiobook of classic book on Christian Leadership.
See: http://lnkd.in/c5qFTQ

Salary Benchmarking led to crazy Executive Compensations.
See: http://lnkd.in/xNuUaX

CSC report examines Health IT Worker Shortage.
See: http://lnkd.in/ePF69E

Will iPad take Apple into the corporate arena?
See: http://lnkd.in/dWfm7v

Will e-Readers lose to Tablets?
See: http://lnkd.in/cUdukm

When we stop buying physical books, what will book stores sell?
See: http://lnkd.in/8ueWqt

Could a 1950s retro makeover help our USPS?
See: http://lnkd.in/QhqAKM

iPhones driving surge in Apple Mac enterprise sales?
See: http://lnkd.in/7sXGsM

Dresner ready to release Mobile BI Study results.
See: http://lnkd.in/GHh6Rm

Merv Adrian explains IDC BI market numbers.
See: http://lnkd.in/DsWSxn

Decline of American Television.
See: http://lnkd.in/4xBD_a

Come over to my Pad.
See: http://lnkd.in/f_dppD

Apple in the BI Space?

2010-08-13T13:58:00.012-04:00

Earlier today, Lizette Chapman at Fast Company wrote about Apple's $46 billion in cash reserves.

Investors are asking the company to use that to pay out dividends, but Steve Jobs wants to keep sitting on the dough. Steve says:

We know if we need to acquire something--a piece of the puzzle to make something big and bold--we can write a check for it and not borrow a lot of money and put our whole company at risk. The cash in the bank gives us tremendous security and flexibility.

If Steve wanted, he could take a small chunk of that money--not much, perhaps just a billion or two--and buy one of the few remaining pure Business Intelligence software vendors. Apple could then leverage the acquired BI infrastructure and and build a nice BI front-end for the iPad.

That would classify as "big and bold." Today, the BI software space is dominated by four mega-vendors: IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. All of these big companies acquired BI vendors. Why not Apple?

My blog gets hit constantly by people looking for information about BI on the iPad and other mobile devices. People want it. Apple could buy it. It would work.

Apple already has a Business Intelligence webpage showing other vendors' BI apps on the iPhone and iPad. Using some of its cash, Apple could be a winner in the BI space.

Candidates for Steve to buy include Actuate, MicroStrategy, and Information Builders. Personally, I would suggest that Apple acquire privately-held Information Builders' for their BI product WebFOCUS and their enterprise integration technology called iWay Software.

The WebFOCUS architecture works well as a powerful BI engine for Safari-based web applications. So it already works today on the iPad. Just to take things to that "big and bold" level, however, Apple could implement a beautiful touchscreen BI application to sit on top of WebFOCUS.

Of course, the product name WebFOCUS is right up there with "horseless carriage." Apple will surely change that to something snappy like iBI (which is what most people call it today because of the vendor's initials), Apple Info, or Apple Knowledge.

The iWay Software already has the Apple "i" at the beginning! Still, I would make a name change recommendation--since enterprise integration is plumbing, the glue that holds things together, etc.--I would go with Apple Sauce.

With $46 billion in cash, Steve should have no problem becoming one of the BI software mega-vendors if he wants.

Are You in the Steven Slater Fan Club?

2010-08-13T09:35:00.016-04:00

On this Friday the 13th, our celebrity du jour is Steven Slater, a disgruntled jetBlue flight attendant who earlier this week gave a memorable job notice over the loud speaker and slid down the airplane's emergency chute with two beers.

Depending on your point of view, Steven Slater is either a hero, a jerk, or a criminal.

So which is it? Are you in the "Steven Slater Fan Club?"

Since a blog should contain personal opinions, here is mine. Every day, each of us plays a societal role. We are each a professional in a chosen profession. Steven Slater professes he loves the airline industry and this is the role he has chosen to play. He just decided to stop playing that role on that particular flight.

In the excellent book "The Reflective Practitioner," Donald Schön wrote:

In the traditional professional-client contract, the professional acts as though he agreed to deliver his services to the client to the limits of his special competence, to respect the confidences granted him, and not to misuse for his own benefit the special powers given him within the boundaries of the relationship. The client acts as though he agreed, in turn, to accept the professional’s authority in his special field, to submit to the professional’s ministrations, and to pay for services rendered. In a familiar psychological extension of the informal contract, the client agrees to show deference to the professional. He agrees not to challenge the professional’s judgment or to demand explanations beyond the professional’s willingness to give them. In short, he agrees to behave as though he respected the professional’s autonomy as an expert.

Here is a summary of Schön's points. As a professional, each of us is expected to deliver our services in an agreed-upon way, respect the confidences given to us by the client, and not misuse our power. In exchange, we expect clients to render some type of compensation for our services, respect our authority, and follow the advice that we give.

The jetBlue story is still being sorted out, but initial indications pointed to an unruly foul-mouthed passenger who disrespected Steven's professional role. Responding in a likewise unprofessional fashion, Steven called it quits in a way that will be recorded forever in Internet History.

There was misuse of professional power; by deploying the emergency chute, Slater basically grounded the plane until everything was put back to normal (reports say three hours minimum). Because of this, he probably delayed jetBlue passengers on several flights.

We might find that story erroneous and discover that Steven created the mess with no assistance (if so, he should have waited until Friday the 13th for more impact!).

Personally, I see an issue in our American culture where we have pushed the concept of individualism to a point where we have lost our personal humility (and I am speaking as an expert in lifelong humility issues).

It is one thing to have individual freedom, but quite another to go to an extreme where we become totally self-centered and lose compassion for other individuals. At that point, we lose sight of our personal role in society and behave inappropriately. We demand respect while dishing out disrespect on everybody else around us.

Lots of people might join the "Steven Slater Fan Club," but in the "I'm the Only Important Person Fan Club," there is room for just one member.

Why Amazon and Apple Will Not Kill Each Other

2010-08-12T16:04:00.010-04:00

When Farhad Manjoo is not battling angry tweeters over his allegedly racist Slate article on "blacktags," he is writing interesting material about hot technology topics.

In the most recent September 2010 issue of Fast Company magazine, Farhad wrote a Tech Edge article called "The End of Winner-Take-All." Farhad predicts that certain tech markets will result in stalemates instead of one company wiping out all other contenders.

As examples of two potential market dominators, Farhad points out the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad. Rather than be enemies, Amazon and Apple might just have reasons to play nicely.

I use Amazon's Kindle app and think it is the best e-reader for the iPad -- better than Kobo, Stanza, eReader, or even Apple's iBook. Thanks to this app, my iPad becomes a front-end to the Amazon bookstore, which I prefer to those from competitors such as Borders or Barnes & Nobles.

Farhad writes:

Speaking to investors, [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos pointed out that because Kindle books are delivered across the Internet to a range of devices--including the iPad--Amazon might actually benefit from the Apple tablet's popularity. The more iPads Apple sells, the more potential Amazon customers. Bezos is wise to ignore the calls for Amazon to make the Kindle more like the iPad. The Kindle will be a gadget whose only purpose is to read books. Bezos concedes that such a device isn't for everyone, but 'serious readers' will always prefer a dedicated e-reader.

This cooperative thinking is foreign to the BI software market where each mega-vendor wants to supply the entire "technology stack" for a company's architecture.

Personally, I hope that Farhad is correct and Amazon and Apple will be buddies in the competitive e-reader market space (I love them both!).

U.S. Taxpayers Fund IT Offshoring in Sri Lanka

2010-08-10T16:42:00.010-04:00

When your August 9th issue of the InformationWeek magazine comes in the mail, be sure to turn to page 18 and read the short article on IT Outsourcing. If you do not have a subscription, here is what Paul McDougall wrote:

The U.S. Agency for International Development will contribute $10 million to $36 million to train workers, including 3,000 IT specialists, in Sri Lanka.

The federal agency will partner with private outsourcers in that country to teach workers advanced IT skills such as Enterprise Java programming, business process outsourcing, and call center support. USAID will also help the trainees brush up on their English.

Following their training, the workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT services to U.S. companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs.

The outsourcing program is part of a larger effort to create 10,000 jobs in Sri Lanka in IT, construction, and the garment industry. But it's the outsourcing program that's drawing fire from critics. President Obama has pledged to retain more high-tech jobs in the U.S. in IT, biological sciences, and green energy.

I wonder who convinced the U.S. government to chose Sri Lanka as a new source of cheap IT workers (perhaps programmers in Tamil Nadu are getting too pricey)? Evidently, the $60 billion offshoring industry could always use some assistance from American taxpayers.

A key phrase in the article might be "U.S. companies looking to take advantage of…"

We have come to accept the business fact that U.S. companies do not want to hire American workers because we are too expensive. Instead, highly-paid executives at those firms make a financial case for their wise decision to pay a fraction of U.S. salaries to individuals on the other side of the planet.

Perhaps here is a good place for President Obama to introduce some of his Change. For example, why not send some federal IT training money to low-wage workers in Jonesboro, Arkansas or Van Wert, Ohio?

It's an idea that many Americans are pushing. If you have not heard of "rural outsourcing," and how Arkansas might be able to compete with India, see the 2010 July CNNMoney article.

The UI for which You Will Shave Your Head

2010-08-09T08:54:00.009-04:00

Researchers from down under in Australia want to bring the user interface up on top -- the top of your head, that is.

While it evokes images of Star Trek Borgs and jacked-in softies from William Gibson's matrix stories, a new "brain-reading" headset may just change the way we work with computers. The tagline for the Emotiv EPOC brain-computer interface is "you think, therefore, you can."

Because each brain is different, Emotiv EPOC comes with software for calibrating each individual's thoughts. You select a mental activity (e.g., pull, push, go left, go right, or disappear) and think about doing it for a few seconds while the application listens in on your brain's neural snaps, crackles, and pops. Using EEG signals from the headset, the software records your brain-wave patterns.

When you use other software, the headset watchs your EEG for similar activities, decides on your mental objective, and passes that command to your computer application ("Hey, WoW! The gamer is thinking about moving to the right!").

In addition to capturing brainwaves, the headset watches for head tilting and facial movements that can be passed along as commands to an application. One practical example of use would be for an individual in a wheelchair who is unable to use a joystick to control movement. Instead, he or she can command the wheelchair to go left, right, straight, or back mentally and/or through head and facial movements.

While the technology's capabilities seem out of this world, its price is realistic -- just $299 for the headset and then some extra expenses for software that knows what to do with your brainwaves. For developers and researchers, Emotiv offers a variety of software options, from a "lite" SDK for free download, all the way up to an "enterprise plus" development license for $7500.

You can watch a recorded live demonstration of the headset at the TED website.

If this really takes off, be prepared to see technology innovators with unique haircuts!

Our Future App Society

2010-08-06T11:19:00.008-04:00

Here in the United States, we believe that each person has the right to own a house, a car, and a variety of sundry items. Thanks to our consumer mentality, we have a sophisticated advertising industry, a financial crisis, a government-sponsored "Cash for Clunkers" program, a burgeoning storage unit industry, and very few stay-at-home parents.

In the not-too-distant past, Americans had public pay-phones and party-line rotary telephones. Today, even children have their own pocket-sized mobile phones.  Most American families have at least one television and computer.

Of course, America is not like the rest of the world.  About 93% of the world's population does not own an automobile. If you make over $50K, you are in the top 1% of the world's wealthiest people.

How far will America go? I'm predicting that each American will soon have....

His or her own App. Musicians like Madonna have their own apps. NFL players like Chad Ocho Cinco are also blazing the path for personal apps, partnering with others for their app software development firm.  See Chad's app (wait, don't just see it -- buy it!) on his webpage or in the Apple app store.

Also emerging with their own personal apps are our elected officials. See the American Congress personal apps at Sympatico's webpage.

When will you have your own personal app?

Q2 Results Make MicroStrategy Giddy -- Giving Away Their BI Software!

2010-08-04T15:20:00.002-04:00

After announcing 2010 Q2 results of a 41% year-over-year increase in license revenue, MicroStrategy is giddy. So much, in fact, that they are giving away BI software!

Russell Lantier, a Business Development Manager for MicroStrategy, let me know about these two great offers:

MicroStrategy Free Reporting Suite: http://www.microstrategy.com/freereportingsoftware

MicroStrategy Free Mobile BI Suite: http://www.microstrategy.com/freemobilebi

For the Free Reporting Suite, MicroStrategy is giving you a one-CPU server license, 100 named user licenses, two developer licenses, and two licenses for the "full end-user experience."

MicroStrategy claims that their BI offering for iPhone/iPad and BlackBerry is 100x more impactful than using BI on your desktop. Check out their offer and decide for yourself.

IBM Continues Buying Spree

2010-08-03T20:28:00.003-04:00

IBM just completed its purchase of web analytics company Coremetrics, right after buying Sterling Commerce, SPSS, and dozens of other software vendors.

Here is what KMWorld had to say about the deal:

IBM reports the Coremetrics acquisition will enhance its ability to help businesses rapidly gain intelligence into social networks and online media sources through a cloud-based delivery model, and use this insight to create smarter, more effective marketing campaigns.

Further, it explains, Coremetrics’ offerings can provide real-time intelligence on what consumers are saying about the products and services being offered to them and allow clients to make fact-based, accurate decisions on marketing expenditures. As a result, IBM claims, marketing teams can gain deeper insight about their consumers and present personalized recommendations, promotions and other sales incentives across a variety of channels where consumers interact with their brands. These channels span traditional outlets such as storefronts and catalogs and newer outlets including all forms of e-commerce and social media.

This is secret, so please do not repeat it, but my inside source at IBM says that next on their checklist of acquisitions are Smuckers, The Ohio State University Stadium, the Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati, and North Carolina.

Note: just a week later IBM acquired Datacap, a document capture and management software vendor based in Tarryton, NY.

QlikTech meeting Consumer Expectations of BI with QlikView

2010-08-03T15:19:00.003-04:00

Erica Driver at QlikTech just blogged about the difference between the technologies we use at home (such as the Apple iPad) and those at work (such as a Windows workstation).

Wait...should there be any difference?

Why would your employer force on you a user interface that you wouldn't accept at home?

See how the BI product QlikView meets the "consumer" expectation of Business Intelligence software.

IBM Cognos offers Mid-Market Cost Busters

2010-08-03T14:21:00.004-04:00

IBM partners reselling Cognos solutions have a new weapon in their arsenal: tailored financing from IBM Global Financing.

The "Cost Buster" option helps IBM partners overcome small-to-medium prospects' objections that they cannot afford the solution.

For example, the IBM partner can offer a total solutions bundle consisting of Cognos BI and performance management software, SPSS predictive analytics software, and System x hardware and software, along with special financing (which can start at zero percent with terms ranging from monthly to 12 or 18 months). The customer can finance everything except the partner's services.

IBM understands that their mid-market clients have three main concerns when purchasing a BI solution:

Return on Investment
Financial impact
Time to Value

The Cost Buster is designed to address all three issues. And guess what? IBM pays the channel partner a bonus for including these financial services.

This is just another example of IBM intelligently and aggressively pushing their Cognos and SPSS products to remain a strong leader in the hot BI software marketspace.

See ITChannelPlanet for more information.

Free Advice -- How to Replace Your Legacy 4GL!

2010-08-02T13:04:00.001-04:00

For a limited time, Partner Intelligence will help your organization--FREE OF COST--analyze its current legacy 4GL environment. Common 4GL products still installed at organizations include FOCUS, NOMAD, and RAMIS.

It's the 21st century and time to retire these ancient technologies. Your company probably spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually supporting these dated programming languages. The original developers have retired and your modern technologistics want nothing to do with these hand-me-down applications.

Partner Intelligence has a suite of software applications that can automatically scan, inventory, and analyze your 4GL applications. FREE OF COST, we will provide you with a summarized and detailed inventory of everything your FOCUS, NOMAD, or RAMIS programs do, along with suggestions on how to replace them with modern products such as IBM Cognos or IBI WebFOCUS.

(For more information on our DAPPER methodology and automated BI Consolidator suite, see my earlier blogs. Did I mention this is FREE OF COST?)

Contact us immediately if you are interested in ridding your organization of these legacy technologies.

Vendor Uses Friends to Kill Enemies

2010-08-01T20:00:00.006-04:00

Longfellow told a story about a crafty crow who dropped a string of golden beads near a snake. A man passing by saw the beads and, in order to retrieve them, killed the snake. As the moral of the story, Longfellow wrote:

Method is more important than strength when you wish to control your enemies.

Sandy Carter, a VP for IBM, is applying Longfellow's story to the competitve world of BI software. Not that IBM doesn't have strength that it could use, but this approach is classier than just banging together the heads of the other vendor's sales team.

She has promised incentives to IBM partners to go after other mega-vendors such as SAP, Oracle, HP, and Sun Microsystems. In her "Up to Double Software Value Incentives (SVI)" campaign, Sandy will pay partners a bonus of up to 40% of the contract's value (twice what they would normally get) when they knock off a competitor's product.

In particular Sandy wants IBM Cognos partners to eliminate the following products from customers' shops:

Oracle Discover
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
Hyperion Enterprise
Pillar
Brio
Essbase

On the database side, Sandy placed a bounty on the head of SAP's Sybase to any partners who replace it with IBM's DB2.

(See my earlier blog about Boris Evelson's observations that everybody in the BI marketspace is now a competitor.)

Consolidation of the BI software market is going to happen naturally, but Sandy is using her creative side to speed it up and make things interesting.

Partner Intelligence Announces Plans for IBM Cognos

2010-07-30T21:49:00.013-04:00

In the Third Quarter 2010 TDWI Best Practices Report, director of research Wayne Eckerson released the results of a survey showing how companies are changing their Business Intelligence habits to cut costs. TDWI asked companies about the BI vendor strategies they had employed in the recent past and those they intend to use in the near future.

TDWI found that 22% of the companies surveyed had switched BI vendors in the past three years. Another 27% intended to switch BI vendors within the next three years.

Wow -- if this is indicative of U.S. companies in general, then almost half are getting rid of their current BI tools.

A quarter of the surveyed individuals said their companies had reduced the number of BI tools that they owned, consolidating them to a BI standard. Another 40% said they intended to consolidate in the next three years.

Bigger Wow -- that is almost three-quarters of the companies surveyed!

Partner Intelligence has helped well-known organizations replace legacy reporting tools quickly and cost-effectively. To date, however, we have been limited in which BI tools we helped companies implement.

I am happy to announce Partner Intelligence's intention to enhance our current BI Consolidator software suite to support the automated conversion of legacy tools into the IBM Cognos product.

We plan to focus on legacy mainframe reporting tools such as 1970s fourth generation languages such as FOCUS, RAMIS, and NOMAD, replacing them with IBM Cognos on the Series z platform. (See my "Big Blue Cognos" blog from September 2008.)

We are also preparing for the automated replacement of BI implementations written in SAP Business Objects's Crystal Reports.

(See my "Leave a Legacy" blog from October 2008 for reasons why your company's applications should not be written in thirty year old 4GL software.

See my "DAPPER" blog from October 2009 for more information on how we approach these legacy converstions with a formal methodology and automated software suite.)

If you are part of the majority of companies ditching their current BI vendors and products, I would like to talk about how we can work together to simplify your replacement process.

Defining Business Intelligence

2010-07-13T21:37:00.000-04:00

Richard Herschel of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia would like to see everyone reach an agreement on an ongoing discussion: What is Business Intelligence?

With a uniform definition, Herschel argues that "we could focus on what matters - outcomes."

His suggestion for a standard is:

"Business intelligence is the application of data, technology, and analytics to gain insight and knowledge that enables decisions about people, processes, products, and services that yield positive economic outcomes."

Read Herschel's entire article on the BeyeNETWORK.

Pentaho BI Ad-Hoc for the iPad

2010-07-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

A leading open source BI software provider, Pentaho, has a nice ad-hoc reporting tool for the Apple iPad.

Richard Daley, the Pentaho CEO and co-founder, says:

"We've always been believers in Mobile BI as evidenced by being the first to support the iPhone and now the first to support ad-hoc analysis for the iPad. With technology like Analyzer, any business user can create reports in a couple of minutes with just the touch of a finger. It doesn't get much easier than this."

Pentaho's ad-hoc Analyzer tool is quite impressive. See the iPad video for yourself.

Mobile Intelligence from MicroStrategy

2010-07-11T14:55:00.001-04:00

MicroStrategy, one of the leading Business Intelligence software vendors, is showing everybody how to take BI to mobile user interfaces. They are in effect announcing the end of the desktop BI era, claiming that "using a mouse and keyboard is now outdated" and giving us notice that more intuitive replacements have arrived.

Their recently released whitepaper explains the importance of taking BI to handheld computers, predicting that it could "revolutionize business processes across every industry."

MicroStrategy positions Mobile Internet Computing as the latest technology cycle, following the established technologies of Mainframes, Mini Computers, Personal Computers, and PC Internet. MicroStrategy points out that the smartphone adoption rate has outpaced that of PC technologies.

"The reasons are simple: these mobile devices provide constant connectivity and are convenient to carry, extremely powerful, and easy and fun to use. Unique capabilities aside, the number of people that can carry a smartphone is significantly greater than the number of people that take a laptop with them when away from the office."

MicroStrategy calculates that BI on a mobile device is 400 times more powerful than using BI on a desktop computer, based on the increased size of user population, the increased information opportunities, and a more natural user interface that expands personal query relevance.

Here is MicroStrategy's warning about ignoring this emerging Mobile Intelligence trend:

"In the new era of Mobile Intelligence, businesses that presently don’t exist may evolve into industry leaders. Applications that are moderately valuable with the desktop Internet may be billion dollar applications when fully applied to the mobile Internet. The next YouTube or Facebook hasn’t been invented yet, but will be designed as a mobile application. Organizations that stay with today’s desktop-based information distribution models may become obsolete, outpaced by those organizations that choose to thrive on the mobile Internet.

Organizations that embrace Mobile Intelligence will become leaner, faster, smarter decision-making machines resulting in more business, more revenue, and greater competitive advantage."

Of course, MicroStrategy would not be talking about Mobile Intelligence unless they saw themselves as a leader in this new marketspace:

"MicroStrategy 9 is well-suited to support the emerging and demanding needs of the new generation of Mobile Intelligence applications. Mobile Intelligence applications demand much faster performance and serve much larger user populations than traditional wired Internet applications. MicroStrategy offers Mobile Business Intelligence capabilities for the Apple iPhone and iPad, the BlackBerry Smartphone, and the Kindle DX, with an architecture that is engineered for the speed and performance required to rapidly deliver information on a mobile device."

Some industry analysts agree with MicroStrategy. Wayne Eckerson from TDWI says this:

“MicroStrategy has recognized the importance of mobile for current and upcoming generations of BI users and has taken the lead in providing optimal mobile BI solutions for a range of devices. They’ve got the vision and are now executing. The competition is clearly in catch-up mode.”

Mark Smith of Ventana Research seconds that:

“Information is the energy that powers today's businesses. The use of mobile devices has outpaced the traditional desktop and is now a preferred method for many business professionals to consume information. With MicroStrategy Mobile, companies can assemble and deliver business intelligence applications for executives, operational workers, suppliers, and business partners much more rapidly and cost effectively than ever before through direct and native support of mobile platforms, including iPad and iPhone.”

For more information, see MicroStrategy's description of their iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry offerings or their main Mobile Intelligence page.

And when you are ready to create a mobile BI application, MicroStrategy's Professional Services organization will be there to help. For $15,000 USD, a consultant will come onsite for ten days. At the end of the engagement not only will you have a full-featured mobile BI application, but MicroStrategy will also provide a mobile intelligence strategy document, a mobile application storyboard, and a mobile BI application video. Your MicroStrategy mobile BI application will consist of a customized homepage, up to ten functional screens, and a combination of dashboards, data visualizations, and grids and graphs in a guided workflow.

Would you like to see our wine iList?

2010-07-09T16:41:00.006-04:00

The Nation's Restaurant News asked their readers within foodservice organizations to provide interesting examples of using the Apple iPad. Yesterday's NRN listed a few.

M Burger in Chicago has a practical use for the iPad internally to reduce paper in their small 400-square-foot restaurant. Corporate chef Tim Hockett said,

"We're trying to get rid of all the clipboards and paper trails back there [in the kitchen]. We don't have the space for it."

Of course, the iPad is not just for use by operational use by the restaurant employees. Naples Tomato in Naples, Florida, is working on an iPad wine list called Personal Sommeliers for iPad. Guests within the Meditterranean restaurant will be able to browse, search, and select wines. In addition, Naples Tomato will use the Apple iPad app as an educational tool to improve their staff's wine knowledge.

At Pandini's in Germantown, Maryland, customers can present photo IDs and check out iPads for use while in the restaurant. Michael Hollen, VP of operations, is testing a program that would use the iPad to attract new diners and to build loyalty among their existing customers. He says,

"The iPad is the hottest piece of technology in 2010, so it's a great perk for our guests. Many of our guests come in and bring their computers or have newspapers. Now, if they are clamoring to try the iPad, they can take one for a spin for free."

Since an iPad really isn't much bigger than the black credit card holders the wait staff carries around already, it could easily be used as a mobile restaurant ordering system. In fact, orderTalk has already released an app to let customers order their own food on an iPad, iPhone, or iTouch.

orderTalk's CEO Patrick Eldon says:

“This application is perfect for restaurants that want a ‘line buster’ approach so customers can order in line and then have their order ready when they get to the counter. It also works in casual dining, allowing guests to order and pay directly at their table from their personal or restaurant supplied devices.”

Mobile computers with easy access to a global network will continue to transform the way we work, live, and play. This is not just some fancy technology suited for a small group of innovators. Everybody will have one (or more).

If you don't have an iPad yet, be sure to put it on your wish list so that, some day, you can have interesting stories to tell your grandchildren about the kind of apps you had back at the beginning of the century.

Official Breaking News: Partner Intelligence and Information Builders

2010-07-02T12:52:00.006-04:00

It is official!

On Friday, the 2nd of July 2010, Information Builders announced their selection of Partner Intelligence as a Solution Partner, one of an elite group of trusted partners given the ability to resell the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence product.

Of course, since our first day in business in 2007, Partner Intelligence has been an Information Builders partner. But this change greatly expands our ability to serve our clients by offering solution bundles of both BI consulting services and software products.

We have always worked closely with Information Builders' Professional Services organization. In 2009, VP Bob Gabriel selected Partner Intelligence as his organization's preferred vendor for converting legacy reporting tools into the WebFOCUS product using our BI Consolidator application. Bob explained:

"We chose Partner Intelligence because of their success automating complex conversions of legacy technologies into WebFOCUS. Partner Intelligence’s software application can reduce the time, cost, and risk of converting companies into WebFOCUS clients."

WebFOCUS clients like Richard Smith II at the State of Oklahoma's Department of Human Services confirm Bob's decision:

“When I engaged Partner Intelligence to do a major project to convert hundreds of production jobs from mainframe FOCUS to WebFOCUS in just six months, it seemed like an unattainable undertaking. Not only was I wrong, but this was one of the smoothest projects on which I have had the pleasure of working in years! If you need to convert code, then Partner Intelligence is the company you need to work with!”

With this agreement in place, Partner Intelligence can provide new customers with complete, cost-effective turnkey BI solutions.

If you have legacy tools such as FOCUS, NOMAD, RAMIS, Crystal Reports, QMF/SQL, Oracle Portal, or others, contact Partner Intelligence to discuss how to quickly and easily transform your current reporting environment into a high quality web-based BI solution.

If you are looking for enterprise dashboard solutions, Partner Intelligence can quickly implement a bundled solution customized for your particular needs.

Let us know how Partner Intelligence can be of service.

BI Vendor Partnerships are a Thing of the Past

2010-05-26T17:20:00.004-04:00

In a recent Information Management blog, BI analyst Boris Evelson points out that partnerships among BI vendors are gone. The market has consolidated and the remaining players are now competitors.

IBM is a good example. In the past, Big Blue played nicely with the BI vendors whose products needed IBM's hardware, databases, and software. IBM's acquisition of Cognos turned their previous buddies into enemies.

Mega-vendor SAP acquired their way into the BI space with the Business Objects purchase and became IBM competitors.

But Business Objects had been a long-time friend with IBM Global Services who loved doing large DB2 data warehouse projects. Rather than continue with that, SAP has acquired their own relational database, Sybase.

If everybody is now your competitor, who is there to work with?

Boris adds a word of advice to the remaining small BI vendors:

"Offer your own full BI stack or position yourself for an acquisition. No other long-term options in my mind."

Christian Band Exchanges Musical Instruments for iPhones

2010-05-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

In my recent blogs, I gave examples of how computers were moving from a position of scarcity and fixed location to one of abundance and "in every pocket" much like the ubiquitous telephone.

Could the same thing be true for musical instruments? Might you someday keep an entire orchestra in your pocket?

Before you call me crazy, see how Christian band Rend Collective Experiment plays without instruments (except for their iPhones).

Purdue CIO Says No More PCs

2010-05-11T08:39:00.016-04:00

In the TV show "Green Acres," Mr. Douglas moves from the big city to the small village of Hooterville. Everybody else there shares the crank telephone at Drucker's General Store but, being the cosmopolitan fellow, Mr. Douglas wants a personal phone at his home.

Unfortunately, the Hooterville phone company cannot run a wire into his house. To accommodate his demand, they install a phone at the top of a telephone pool. Mr. Douglas just has to climb up and down the pool to use the phone.

Mr. Douglas's phone situation reminds me of my days in corporate IT for a global manufacturer. Back in the early 1980s, when I needed to write programs for the mainframe computer, I walked to the "TSO Room" where shared dumb terminals were available.

Change first came when management created a second TSO Room for the smokers. But the IT staff was really shocked when so-called "personal computers" started showing up in people's offices and you no longer had to walk to the shared terminals.

I remember one guy wandered the hallways looking for anybody who would listen. "Someday," he would prophesize with the fervor of Jeremiah, "EVERYBODY will have a PC on his or her desk. NO, even people who do not have desks -- people out in the factory! WOE to you if you do not listen!" Crazy talk.

Today, we hear similar crazy talk from the CIO of Purdue University. ComputerWorld quotes Gerry McCartney in an April 2010 article that he sees in the near future that the university will not have any personal computers. Instead, he predicts mobile devices attached to a wireless network.

Due to financial constraints, Gerry needs to cut recurring IT costs by $15 million over the next three years -- a 15% budget cut.

Gerry has his eye on the 20,000 personal computers on campus. He says, "This idea that I have to go to a PC and sit down and use it is as quaint as having to go to a phone to use a phone." (Especially if you have to climb a pole to get to it.)

If you are my age, you have lived through a period where telephones started as scarce shared resources (the payphone and the party line) and moved to abundant "in-every-pocket" devices.

We may also see the computer go through the same progression.

SAP Business Objects Enhances Explorer for iPad

2010-05-10T10:51:00.002-04:00

Last week, SAP BusinessObjects released a new version of their iPhone Explorer for iPhone. Originally released at the end of 2009, SAP BusinessObjects has added new support for the iPad. To see an online demonstration of this mobile BI product, click here.

Using Explorer, an iPad user has easy access to a nice self-service mobile application. At the top, the user has a panel of selection criteria. The results show up in the bottom pane in graphical and tabular formats. Using the touchscreen, the user can drilldown into details, change the graph formats, and so forth.

To learn more, open iTunes and browse for BusinessObjects Explorer.

Homemade iPad Stylus

2010-05-07T16:25:00.000-04:00

See Collin Cunningham's Makezine article on how to build your very own iPad touch screen stylus. Nobody else in your neighborhood will have a custom stylus like this!

How to Build a Better iPad

2010-05-07T16:18:00.000-04:00

Charlie Sorrell at Wired magazine's Gadget Lab tells how to build a tablet computer that will beat the Apple iPad. Read the whole article.

iPad the Cannibal

2010-05-06T14:43:00.015-04:00

Turning an iPad over in his hands, my teenage son said disparagingly, "I don't get why Apple made this thing."

Evan was about to open my eyes to another point of view on the iPad -- that of the existing Apple fans. He continued, "I carry my MacBook with me everywhere. Why would I want an iPad?"

That is probably a very good point: existing MacBook owners will stick to their Apple notebook computers. They probably would not consider switching to an iPad or having an extra device.

As an Apple iPhone user, however, I easily convinced myself to purchase the iPad. The iPhone is great as a phone and a small 3G-enabled mobile computer when necessary. The iPad, on the other hand, was a big step beyond the iPhone and would serve different purposes.

What about iTouch users? Without a phone, they really just own a tiny version of the iPad. I see existing iTouch owners moving to the iPad; people who might have purchased the iTouch in the future will strongly consider buying an iPad instead.

Today in a CNNMoney.com Fortune article, Philip Elmer-DeWitt wrote that the iPad not only cannabilizes Apple's iTouch product, but the entire netbook market as well. Philip got his insight from a Morgan Stanley study released on Thursday by Katy Hubert.

In their March 2010 survey, Morgan Stanley found that 44% of American consumers interested in buying an iPad would make that purchase instead of a netbook or notebook computer. The survey also shows that the iPad cuts into the sale of the Apple iTouch, eReaders, desktop computers, and handheld videogames.

I don't think that Apple will mind cannibalizing its iTouch business when there is so much more to gain with the iPad market.

iPadCTO Advises Against iPad Forms

2010-05-05T10:50:00.002-04:00

Bill French, at iPadCTO.com, argues that the iPad is not the place for a user interface with a paper forms metaphor. Instead, he suggests that a wizard is the way to go.

Have you ever encountered a form on your iPad (or any mobile device for that matter) and thought – [sigh], another fricken’ form. Forms are the equivalent of mobile computing’s Waterloo. There’s no better way to kill excitement in a mobile workforce than by presenting a form that looks like this.

Process-centric wizards are far more useful for two key reasons; (i) they avoid giving users the overwhelming feeling they have 20 fields to fill in, and (ii), they make it possible to avoid steps based on contextual answers. A wizard is no different than a smart app designed to streamline a specific process. Consider this – a mobile time and billing process for a CTO is (at its core) a database management problem, but for the mobile consultant and her manager, it’s a process problem.

See Bill's full article.

BI Apps for the Apple iPad

2010-05-04T16:42:00.007-04:00

After my last blog on Apple iPad apps such as USA Today, UrbonSpoon, and the ABC Player, readers still wanted to know, "What about BI applications?"

If your organization wants to use the iPad for internal Business Intelligence applications, then you have three main choices available:

Build and deploy your own enterprise BI applications
Build a web BI application and access it with the Safari browser on the iPad
Use a pre-built BI application obtained from the Apple App Store

Let's consider for now just the third option. Who offers packaged BI applications straight from the App Store?

At the top of the list is QlikView for iPad HD from QlikTech, a major European BI firm that is gaining ground in the United States. To use the BI iPad application, you need to have a QlikView Server supplying data to the handhold. To see the app in action, QlikView provides a demo server.

QlikView offers output in simple grid data views and nice graphs. There is basic selection capabilities that lets you pick parameters such as dates and dimensions. With the 3G iPad, QlikView is aware of your geolocation.

QlikTech has done a great job implementing QlikView on the iPad, supporting basics such as finger movements, portrait and landscape support, high-definition graphics, and integration with e-mail.

Actuate Corporation created an iPhone app for its open-source BI called the BIRT Mobile Viewer that works with BIRT iServer.

Another mobile BI app of interest is iTop from Danish BI firm TARGIT. Perhaps "iTop" refers to the fact that it sits on top of the TARGIT desktop BI product. The mobile app needs the latest 2K10 version of the TARGIT BI Suite. Written originally for the iPhone, TARGIT iTop also works on the iPad.

A key contender in the mobile BI space is the Roambi Visualizer from MeLLmo. This application is able to take data from files or other BI tools and present it visually on the iPad. It supports packaged applications such as Salesforce (some type of intial setup is required) and BI tools such as Excel, SAP Crystal Reports, SAP BusinessObjects Webi, IBM Cognos, and Microsoft Reporting Services. See this for more information.

We will probably see a slew of "BI viewers" coming to the iPad as well. For example, Sketch Reports from SketchMD allows you to display your Microsoft Reporting Services reports on the iPad.

Other Apple app developers are working on BI tools as well. Muchbetter offers iAnalytic apps for viewing SAP and Salesforce data. Leapfactor offers an iPhone app for viewing corporate KPIs and financial statements.

Keep an eye on this new BI application market space-- these are just the first to try out the new mobile devices with high-definition screens capable of doing quality BI.

Other BI vendors such as SAS and MicroStrategy say they will release mobile BI offerings soon.

iPad Apps and the New User Interfaces

2010-05-02T16:18:00.014-04:00

After writing my blogs on USA Today's Apple iPad app and the Memphis Business Quarterly's web magazine, I was concerned that you might jump to the conclusion that the new mobile user interfaces for newspapers and magazines would just mirror their paper ancestors.

Some mobile apps really do resemble their physicial representation. Take maps, for instance. While a computer display of a map will look much like its paper version, it can provide you with considerable improvements as well -- you can switch between the classic paper view, the satellite view, or a hybrid of the two.

Many map applications allow you to select overlays of the weather. The Weather Channel iPad app, for example, gives you the choice of Radar, Clouds, Radar and Clouds, Temperature, Feels Like, UV Index, and 24 Hour Rain or Snow predictions.

The UrbanSpoon iPad app not only provides a map but an interesting user interface for finding a great Italian restaurant and verifying that past customers were happy with their experiences.

I can see that close to my house is Pitrelli's Italian Deli and Cafe, which 89% of the customers like despite it being rather pricey (one reviewer suggests going on Wednesday evening for the couple's night special of a three-course meal and bottle of wine for $49.99).

Here's a beautiful application. From your iPad, start the ABC Player and you will see something closer to a work of art than a user interface. You could use your iPad to check the ABC television schedule but, wait, who needs a television?

From the iPad, you can watch any episode from any season of Lost (and with with limited commercials, no less).

But you are thinking that these are maps and television shows, just extending their models to new technology. While some new user interfaces will resemble how we have done things in the past, many will not just be copies of older ways of seeing information.

A company that is mixing things up is Yahoo!. It takes its Yahoo! Entertainment magazine to iPad in a way quite different from the paper version.

The opening screen of the Yahoo! Entertainment iPad app has a picture of a paper magazine and the comics look like they are printed on already handled paper, but that is where the resemblance to a physical magazine ends. Yahoo! Entertainment lays out the contents in easily accessed blocks for quick review and navigation. A menu bar at the top allows you to jump between Top Stories, Dear Abby, Book Reviews, Fashion, Odd Stories, and Comics.

The Odd Stories section uses a paper metaphor; making the articles look like somebody has torn out memorable strips and pinned them to a cork board for all to see. The Dear Abby section appropriately looks like a table top with air mail paper and a pencil for composing a letter.

I suspect that many new user interfaces will continue to strive for a paper metaphor and perhaps even a retro look like Yahoo! Entertainment achieved with its Dear Abby section.

However, I'm excited to see how companies will continue to use these new mobile user interfaces and made dramatic changes in the way we interact with digital information.

But for now, if I follow ABC's advice and "start here" on my iPad at Lost Season 1 Episode 1, when do you think I will be done watching the series?

iPad USA Today Provides Glimpse into Future

2010-04-30T15:10:00.003-04:00

USA Today's iPad application provides a glimpse into the future of mobile user interfaces.

The content is always fresh. The app knows your geolocation and customizes information such as the weather.

USA Today went so far as to put jagged paper ridges at the top and multiple page edges along the side to make the "newspaper" feel familiar.

You can easily navigate between the main page and the different sections of Money, Sports, and Life. Inside each section, you tap your finger to open an article and swipe to go to the next page.

Unlike a web browser, the app has a fixed-sized iPad screen so it knows exactly how to format the page you are reading, putting content breaks in the right place.

While staying in hotels, I had already stopped picking up the paper version of the USA Today and instead read the electronic version on my iPhone. This new iPad version is just the next step toward eliminating the paper newspaper.

Your future Business Intelligence applications may or may not run on an Apple iPad. However, it is a very good bet that your BI consumers will want those apps to run on a high-quality mobile device.

Don't think this is still far in the future. See what Business Objects is already doing with RoamBI.

SAP Business Objects doing iPad BI with RoamBI

2010-04-29T14:52:00.000-04:00

See Timo Elliott's 2010 April 16th blog showing the iPad in all its glory for mobile Business Intelligence applications. Timo calls RoamBI's application "beautiful" -- see for yourself.

Excellent User Interface for Online Magazine

2010-04-29T14:20:00.000-04:00

The people at Contemporary Media have done a great job publishing an online version of its magazines, such as the Memphis Business Quarterly. The print edition is classy, but the online version is, well..wow!

See the latest Spring 2010 version in your browser -- switch to the full screen and flip through the pages with your mouse. From the Layout option, you can change to either Magazine, Presentation, or Paper view. Using the Index option, you can visually see the entire magazine and quickly jump to any particular page.

In the cover of this issue of MBQ is Bill Rhodes, the CEO of AutoZone. It is obvious from the article that Memphis loves AutoZone, which employs 1,300 people there. AutoZone has grown into the leading auto parts supplier in the world with 60,000 employees overall and 4,400 stores throughout the U.S. and Mexico. In the last five years, their stock price has doubled to $166.

For Business Intelligence, AutoZone is using BI tools such as WebFOCUS, SAS, and Actuate. Focused mostly on Memphis, the MBQ article does not dig into any BI questions. However, Bill does mention the importance of historical information in making decisions.

Take a look at how a simple web browser can be used as a high-quality magazine reader.

Fewer BI Tools in Your Future

2010-04-28T17:07:00.011-04:00

According to a July 2009 survey conducted by InformationWeek Analytics and Intelligent Enterprise, organizations are continuing to reduce the number of BI tools and many are moving to a single standard.

When an earlier version of the survey was conducted in 2007, a third of the business technology professionals said that their company had standardized on one or a few BI tools deployed throughout the company. Two years later, the response to that question went up to almost half.

Here are some other findings:

Deploying BI tools on a project-by-project basic dropped from 22% to 19%
Having many BI tools scatttered through departments, operations, and locations dropped from 25% to 18%
Deploying BI tools as part of other technology initiatives dropped from 17% to 14%

That indicates that it is harder for a business fiefdom to buy its own reporting solution. It is also harder to sneak in a new reporting tool with another software purchase (like in the past when Crystal Reports was bundled with Microsoft Visual BASIC and third-party applications).

Doug Henschen, editor in chief, says that while BI tool consolidation and standardization is not just marketing hype, no software vendor produces a single stack of technology that can meet all of the BI needs of an organization. That makes picking a single vendor's product as a BI standard difficult.

Doug adds that companies are also interested in "BI 2.0" technologies:

"Another key trend revealed in our survey is that businesses are forging new BI agendas. Yes, the longstanding challenges of accessing data and developing reports are still there, as is the push to share BI more broadly across the enterprise. But there's growing interest behind analytics, embedded BI, and search-style querying.

New business requirements and new vendor capabilities make it unlikely an organization will settle on a single BI vendor. But consolidating around two or three vendors can help meet requirements and get the resource- and time-savings of standardization."

Of course, identifying a BI tool or two as your standard might actually be the easy step. Actually replacing all of the existing report writers in your organization is the hard part.

When you look at the amount of work, several obstacles stand in your way of actually converting to the approved technology:

There are thousands of legacy programs!
We don't have the resources to convert these programs!
There are hundreds of users impacted!
There are some power users who don't want to change!
There are years of work effort involved!
We would have to spend millions of dollars!

It is easy to argue that moving to the new standard is an "undue burden" and therefore something you should not be forced to do. Yet smart companies are doing it because reducing the number of BI tools (especially legacy ones) can:

Reduce license costs
Reduce internal support costs
Reduce human resource challenge of scarce skillsets
Reduce the number of vendors with whom you must work
Improve productivity (e.g., no disputes about or research into BI tool selection)
Improve BI project success (consistent usage of the approved product)
Modernize to web-based and Microsoft Office-integrated technology

More companies will standardize their BI products and reduce the number of reporting tools they support -- it is a natural progression (like the movement toward supporting single versions of spreadsheets, word processing, e-mail packages, and databases).

For a limited time, you can get a free copy of this BI report at InformationWeek.

Extra Value from Your iPad

2010-04-25T21:27:00.002-04:00

I know you have lots of practical reasons for buying an Apple iPad--mobile computing, games, e-mail, web surfing, book reading, etc.--but if you run out of ideas, here are some more.

When you don't have the iPad in your hands (how often would that be?), you can use it as a digital photo frame. See The iFrame Dock for more information on a $50 accessory to get the most of your iPad.

Plus, if you sit the iFrame Dock next to your bed, you can turn off the photo displays when you are ready to sleep and switch to a sound machine app. Or download one of the many clock applications in the Apple App Store and display the time on your giant iPad screen.

AT&T Misses the Point on iPad

2010-04-24T11:31:00.014-04:00

PC Today magazine (April 2010 Volume 8 Issue 4) quotes AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson as saying he doesn't think many iPad customers will actually pay for his AT&T 3G network services. Instead, they will just use the iPad's WiFi feature.

Stephenson says,

"My expectation is that there's not going to be a lot of people out there looking for another subscription."

That is true, especially for those iPad customers who are iPhone/AT&T users. I already pay AT&T monthly charges for 3G services for my iPhone. I am not going to use my iPad and iPhone at the same time, so why should AT&T charge me for two different plans?

Last year, Apple sold nearly 25 million iPhones, mostly with AT&T plans since consumers did not have a choice (other than hacking the phone to use another carrier). A study at Stanford University students found that 10% of their iPhone-carrying students considered themselves fully addicted to the device and 32% were worried they would become addicted (give it up, college students -- everybody is doing it!).

So how many of these 25 million AT&T customers does Stephenson think will also buy an iPad? I am guessing at least 2.5 million "fully addicted" iPhone fans.

Just on principle, I refuse to pay AT&T twice each month for what is basically a single data plan. AT&T is acting like my friends at Delta Air Lines: big bullies picking on their existing customers who have nobody to protect them. There is little we puny consumers can do to ward off the abuse of the big bullies within airlines and telecommunications companies (let's include oil and financial services firms on the bad-boy list for good measure).

Instead of being bullies, AT&T should admit they understand that their existing customers do not want to be cheated and charged double. If AT&T does not want to make the second device's data plan free, they could at least make it cheaper (like Sirius/XM Radio does for my multiple satellite radios).

I don't foresee AT&T dropping its bully ways, so buy the iPad with only WiFi services and let Stephenson's prediction about nobody paying for his 3G network be self-fulfilling.

Lack of Intelligence at Delta Air Lines

2010-04-22T20:32:00.046-04:00

Alright, this has nothing to do with Business Intelligence. I just feel like ranting and raving while sitting in an Oklahoma City hotel room.

My schedule changed while at a client site here, so I thought I would catch an earlier Delta flight home tomorrow morning. In about 12 hours, there are several Delta flights with empty seats going to the Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport. I decided to grab one of those unused seats.

I had initially paid $535 for the roundtrip Delta ticket but then changed my plans to arrive a couple of days earlier. Delta promptly hit me with an additional fee of $352 ($150 penalty for making the change plus any difference in the "value" of my original ticket).

So when I considered also making a switch on the way home, I fully expected to be hit with yet another $150 fee, bringing the roundtrip ticket price to over one grand.

I tried to change my flight on Delta.com, but their online reservation system wasn't working. Instead, I had to call the 800 number shown on the screen.

The Delta representative quietly listened to my shock when she told me that I would have to pay an additional fee of $675, raising the total cost of my roundtrip ticket to about $1600 (not to mention the checked baggage fees for $50). I politely declined Delta's offer to rape and pillage a long-time SkyMile customer (who by the way had just shelled out to Delta Air Lines another $400 for the privilege of sitting in their SkyClub room).

After hanging up the phone, I decided to see what other airlines charged for a one-way ticket from OKC to CVG in the morning. I checked Travelport's CheapTickets.com and was surprised to see that I could get on tomorrow's Delta flight for $500.

If that was true, I could just not show up for my scheduled flight, buy a new ticket for an earlier flight, and save money (sort of).

Yet something didn't sound right. My first call to Delta had been through a general 800 number with a person who seemed to struggle understanding what I wanted, so perhaps she gave me the wrong figures. I decided to try again with the SkyMiles phone number.

I heard the same comment: "Tomorrow morning's flight will cost an additional $675; is that something you would like to do?"

If I were a new customer wanting that Delta seat, I could have gotten the flight cheaper. But because I was an existing SkyMiles customer already scheduled on one of their flights, they put the screws to me.

Back home in Cincinnati, Delta Air Lines is getting ready to pull out of one of their major terminals. Not long ago, Delta shut down the CVG Comair commuter flight concourse. They dropped my direct flight to OKC. Poor flight times force me to travel to OKC on Sunday nights and leave on Saturday mornings.

Despite having loyally flown Delta for about 20 years, I am now ready to say, "Good riddance, Delta."

If Delta Air Lines has such tough financial issues that they must resort to cheating their regular customers, then it is time for them to go out of business. Or at least leave Cincinnati, where consumers expect companies to behave decently.

(Do you think Delta employees read blogs? I'll let you know if my luggage mysteriously disappears on the flight home.)

Sunday (04/25/2010) note: In case you are wondering, yes, I had a rough time traveling home, but I'm not saying this blog or Delta Air Lines had anything to do with it.

Thunderstorms forced my incoming OKC flight to remain on the Memphis tarmac for close to an hour. When I finally got off that plane and walked through the rain into the airport, the 9AM Cincinnati connecting flight was announcing final boarding.

While waiting for the 2PM Cincinnati flight, another storm blew in and Delta diverted that plane to Little Rock; it arrived a couple of hours later. When I arrived in Cincinnati, it took me a while to track down my luggage which had managed to catch the connecting morning flight without me.

Having left OKC at 6:30AM Central, I finally made it home around 8PM Eastern.

But if I have to be stuck in an airport, Memphis International is as good as it gets. Nice people and plenty of things to do (for example, impressive Delta SkyClub, book stores, restaurants, and five different Starbucks). If you have an extra hour in the Memphis airport, go to the Sun Studios Cafe and have the Lime Infused Chicken Breast with Brie Cheese and Grilled Onions on Ciabatta. This is definitely not your typical airport food; it is more like a Memphis version of the Hard Rock Cafe.

Apple iPad and iPhone News

2010-04-11T19:29:00.005-04:00

For Apple iPad news, check out All Things Digital (better yet, download it from the Apple Store and read it on your mobile device).

In addition to the iPad, All Things Digital covered the latest scoop on Apple's announcement for iPhone OS 4.0. Several key developments are coming:

Will allow non-Apple application multi-tasking
New Game Center, a social network for iPhone game players
iAds advertising for iPhone apps (Steve Jobs says they "won't suck" and will make iPhone app developer lots of money)
iBooks--the iPad book reader--will be available for the iPhone

And while you are there, don't miss the Nitrozac and Snaggy comics.

Of course, it is a little ironic for ATD's iPhone app to have one article about Apple not supporting Flash on the iPhone followed by their own news article that actually tries to use Flash.

MicroStrategy Announces iPhone BI Plans

2010-04-09T13:34:00.000-04:00

MicroStrategy is ready for mobile BI applications on the iPhone.

On April 8th, they announced a new integrated development environment designed for mobile BI applications. MicroStrategy claims a "no-code" app dev model where iPhone developers merely assemble mobile components.

MicroStrategy's technology is well positioned for this new mobile BI marketspace. Their server-based architecture could be used effectively to provide web-based BI documents to handheld devices.

MicroStrategy is reaching out to iPhone developers to create these new mobile BI applications. To learn more about their beta developer program, see their webpage.

If you happen to be in Cannes in July, you can learn more about this at the MicroStrategy World 2010 event.

Amen, Brother with the Apple iPhone!

2010-04-05T13:52:00.002-04:00

David Frum, weekly writer for CNN, conveys my feelings perfectly when he tells Apple what he wants from them.

See his full article here.

Glassdoor Offers View inside Software Vendors

2010-04-03T11:37:00.018-04:00

Glassdoor.com is an interesting website where employees post anonymous reviews of their organizations. If you are willing to share your own inside scoop, Glassdoor lets you see others' personal opinions as well as anonymous disclosures of salaries and interview experiences.

Even if you don't post any comments (I did not), you can still see company summaries. Glassdoor also includes job postings aggregated from the job boards.

As you scan through Glassdoor for the general software industry, some clear darlings pop out. For example, employees sing praises for Apple (where Steve Jobs gets a 97% approval rating) and Google (Eric Schmidt has a 96% rating).

So what do the workers within the BI software vendors have to say in private?

Well, it seems that many of these BI vendor employees are less than thrilled with their work situations. I took a look at nine of the top BI vendors and found only two where employees were satisfied with the company overall.

The clear winner for BI software vendor employee satisfaction is SAS, where happy employees awarded CEO Jim Goodnight a 79% approval rating. Microsoft employees are also satisfied, but they are not as chummy with Steve Ballmer, whom they gave only a 54% approval rating.

Actuate won the dubious honor of being the only BI vendor where its employees are openly "dissatisfied" with the company. Of course, when I looked at Glassdoor only three Actuate employees had bothered to take time to vote and only one chimed in on the top boss (luckily for Pete Cittadini, that person gave him a thumbs up).

Employees were "neutral" about working for BI software employers such as IBM, Cognos, Information Builders, MicroStrategy, Business Objects, and Oracle. In fact, half of these companies' executives got 50% or less approval ratings. Employees at SAP, the parent organization of Business Objects, were satisfied and gave Leo Apotheker a 60% approval rating.

Personally, I do not think that anonymous people behave appropriately -- just look at the rude comments of postings on major sites such as Amazon or CNN.

Being non-anonymous might have some benefits. For example, I bet if we put our names and phone numbers on automobile license plates, most of us would drive better.

Regardless, while some of the Glassdoor postings are obviously from disgruntled employees and are biased, they still convey something about a company's culture and possibly its future.

If only a few people contribute information, Glassdoor will not show a fair representation of any company. To help resolve this, read your own organization's reviews on Glassdoor and provide additional comments so that others can have a more accurate view into your firm.

Guy Kawasaki Follows My Tweets

2010-02-09T16:44:00.001-05:00

Okay, the truth is that Guy Kawasaki follows the tweets of over 230,000 people. But still, I'm on his list even if my occasional tweet gets buried and never read by the big Guy himself.

I repay the favor by telling everybody how cool Guy's Alltop site is. See the About page for more information, but Alltop is a aggregation site collecting the top articles from news sites and blogs on hundreds of interesting topics.

BI Software Makes Money

2010-02-09T13:32:00.010-05:00

Business Intelligence isn't just about seeing how many cans of beans you sold last month. It's about figuring out how to sell even more in the future.

It might also be about selling insight into who buys your beans!

A Tel Aviv-based startup called Pursway (formerly Datanetis) is getting $6 million USD in funding to build BI software that can sort through retail transactions to identify who influences a company's product or services sales. Calling their application "breakthrough," they claim it will change the way companies deal with their customers. Read more about this on the Xconomy website.

This sounds vaguely similar to what The Kroger Co. has been doing for years with their partner Dunnhumby USA. Marketing experts (and spouses) Dunn and Humby had worked with United Kingdom supermarket chain Tesco to turn it into a powerhouse using a new concept of customer loyalty programs.

Kroger worked with the UK couple to take this idea to the next level. They recognized that, in addition to increasing grocery store revenues, loyalty cards provided a goldmine of retail knowledge nuggets. With the customer's identity now associated with a card that is swiped with each transaction, Kroger can tie individual people to purchases. With demographic information, they can associate product purchasing with specific groups of customers and make better decisions.

But that insight is important to other firms as well. Instead of using the data just for its own purposes, Kroger can share it with their product suppliers such as Kraft, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble. In the past, these firms would not have known exactly who bought their products at the Kroger store. Now, consumer product goods companies can purchase customer information from Kroger (probably at a bigger profit margin than Kroger sells those cans of beans).

Are you sitting on a goldmine of data?

Perhaps some BI software could help you turn those digital bits and bytes into cold hard cash.

Guy Kawasaki's Art of Innovation

2010-01-29T17:25:00.010-05:00

In Guy Kawasaki's latest book, "Reality Check," he lists 11 recommendations for companies trying to innovate. Buy this excellent book for the first ten, but I will give you the last one:

Don't let the bozos grind you down. The bozos will tell a company that what it's doing can't be done, shouldn't be done, and isn't necessary. Some bozos are clearly losers—they're the ones who are easy to ignore. The dangerous ones are rich, famous, and powerful. Because they are so successful, innovators may think they are right. They're not right, they're just successful on the previous curve, so they cannot comprehend, much less embrace, the next curve.

Guy's comment really hits home for Partner Intelligence's automated BI conversion software. Seven years ago, I was told it couldn't be done. Once I did it, I was told that I shouldn't have. On one hand, they said I was crazy for eliminating so much money that could be made with the status quo of rewriting applications manually. On the other hand, they denied there was really any money to be made with automated conversions.

Yesterday, one of my clients disclosed that a BI software vendor told them (be sure to hear this sentence in your mind with a very sophisticated accent), "we once considered the idea of automating legacy report conversions but decided there was no market for it."

I was pleased that Guy called them bozos and I didn't have to do that myself.

Modernize QMF/SQL to Web-Based BI - Automatically Convert!

2010-01-29T10:58:00.008-05:00

With the 2010 January 28th announcement by IBM and Information Builders on a partnership to provide WebFOCUS as the web-based BI product for mainframe DB2 data warehousing, now is the time to retire your legacy QMF/SQL applications.

Your legacy QMF/SQL applications can now be integrated into your internal and client-facing web portals and accessed on-demand via a web browser. QMF/SQL application output can be HTML, PDF, Excel, and other standard web-supported formats. Your legacy reporting applications can be dramatically enhanced with web-based BI features.

Partner Intelligence's BI Consolidator for QMF makes the transition quick and easy. If you are like many mainframe shops, you have decades of legacy applications; converting those into modern web-based technologies seems like an impossible dream. No worries. Somebody else has done the hard work for you already by creating an automated translation application.

Today, you can automatically inventory, scan, and analyze your QMF procedures, forms, and queries, along with mainframe JCL that runs them. That provides you quick information on the scope of a modernization initiative along with a generated roadmap to follow.

After that, you can automatically convert your QMF applications. Currently, we have the following features in place to translate QMF procedures into comparable WebFOCUS syntax:

Comments (--) are preserved and saved as WebFOCUS comments
RUN commands are translated into WebFOCUS EXEC commands (processing FORM and symbolic variables)
ERASE commands are translated into SQL DROP TABLE commands
SET GLOBAL commands are translated into WebFOCUS –SET commands
Performing SAVE DATA AS, PRINT, and DISPLAY commands with WebFOCUS features (PRINT is a work-in-progress)
BOTTOM commands are ignored

Thanks to WebFOCUS's SQL Pass-Through feature, the BI Consolidator for QMF can leverage your existing SQL routines. If your QMF SQL routines work effectively and efficiently today, they will continue to do so running within WebFOCUS. This dramatically reduces the risk of modernizing your QMF applications -- we keep the core processes exactly the same.

In addition, some additional tasks are being performed for the SQL queries:

Comments (--) are preserved and saved as WebFOCUS comments outside of the SQL query
SET CURRENT SQLID is being issued to establish user defaults
If needed, SET DBSPACE is being issued to establish default database and tablespace
If needed, PREPARE SQLOUT is being issued so that WebFOCUS Developer Studio can paint the answer set
SQL columns are parsed so that proper names can be referenced when producing output files and reports

The BI Consolidator for QMF can also translate your QMF forms into valid WebFOCUS syntax.

Basic form information is being saved and presented as comments within the translated program
If there is no QMF form, creating default print output using the SQL columns
Respecting the sort sequence of the 1) SQL ORDER BY and then 2) the Form BREAKs and GROUPs
Respecting the formatting rules in the Form
Converting CALC columns into WebFOCUS syntax
Converting most QMF aggregate functions into WebFOCUS syntax (AVERAGE, COUNT, FIRST, LAST, MINIMUM, MAXIMUM, PCT, STDEV, and SUM)
Handling BREAK, GROUP, and OMIT instructions
Handling matrix reports (BY and ACROSS)
Converting T 1110 column instructions
Converting T 1210 page heading instructions
Converting T 1310 page footing instructions
Converting T 1410 report footing instructions
Converting T 1402 grand total instructions
Converting Break instructions (QMF syntax prior to V3.1)
Applying stylesheet instructions to replicate LEFT, CENTER, and RIGHT instructions (issue with using multiple alignments on same line)
Converting QMF symbolics such as: &PAGE, &TIME, and &ID

The BI Consolidator offers some additional general features such as:

Interactive, one-at-a-time translation and mass, hundreds-at-a-time translation
Options to turn on testing features such as code display (ECHO) and turn off code execution (XRETRIEVAL)
Option to apply automatic page numbers
Applying stylesheets to the report output format
Adding WebFOCUS output features such as HTML, PDF, Excel, Active Reports, and runtime user selections
Adding pre- and/or post-process steps to the QMF job
When needed, adds APP commands (HOLD, PATH, and APPENDPATH)
Option to identify specific DB2 subsystems
Performs mass string changes during translation process (as an example, change DB2 output tables starting with PROD_ to TEST_ to facilitate testing)
Provides an application browser to view programs, stylesheets, metadata, etc.
Provides a facility to easily generate stylesheets

I would be remiss to not include some type of disclaimer. Currently, some QMF features might not be automatically translated into WebFOCUS. That doesn't mean that it can't be done technically -- we just have not automated the process yet. Here are some current items that are being excluded from the translation:

Some aggregate functions in the QMF form, such as: CPCT, CSUM, STDEV, TCPCT, and TPCT (flagging as needing manual intervention)
Some symbolic variables such as: &ROW and &COUNT (waiting on actual client usage for examples)
Some detail formatting rules, such as on which line to place grand total
Embedded TSO commands in the QMF procs are currently flagged for manual intervention (no usage at clients yet; parsing/generation TBD)

IBM and IBI have paved the way for you to modernize your mainframe QMF reports. Partner Intelligence can reduce the time, cost, and risk of making that happen.

Contact me for more information.

IBI and IBM Partner for System z Data Warehousing

2010-01-26T16:56:00.001-05:00

Today, Information Builders and IBM announced a new Business Intelligence partnership for data warehousing on the System z platform. See the press release.

The new "Data Reporter for DB2" is a special WebFOCUS version specifically for System z DB2 data warehouses.

Just a few years ago, IBI and IBM announced a similar partnership with the "DB2 Web Query" product -- a special WebFOCUS version made for System i data and intended to be a next-generation replacement for Query 400.

This announcement raises some questions. For example, if WebFOCUS supercedes Query 400 on the System i, is this same modernization message true for its mainframe peer Query Management Facility (QMF)? A bigger question is, why didn't IBM just use its own BI product, Cognos, which also runs on the System z?

You can also read about this on Information Builders' website.

InformationWeek's 2010 Top 10 for CIOs (with a BI twist)

2010-01-25T14:58:00.005-05:00

In the 2010 January 8th edition of InformationWeek, Bob Evans listed the top items of concern on CIO's minds in this new year. They include:

The cloud imperative
The 80/20 spending trap
CIO-led revenue growth and customer engagement
Mastering end-to-end business processes
Business Intelligence and Predictive Analytics
External information versus internal information
CIO priorities, CIO compensation, CIO evaluation
Vendor consolidation, with radical exceptions
The mobile enterprise
The transformation quotient

While Bob explicitly lists Business Intelligence as his number 5 item, I can see that BI can play a role in each of his topics.

If CIOs were to draw up New Year's resolutions specifically for their Business Intelligence initiatives, I would suggest:

Reduce software license and support costs by retiring legacy reporting tools (e.g., FOCUS, RAMIS, NOMAD, QMF/SQL, DYL280, and Crystal Reports)
Implement and socialize a formal BI strategy that identifies your official BI Team, BI Policies and Procedures, BI Infrastructure, and BI Project Roadmap
Choose and enforce a standard BI technology (e.g., IBM Cognos, SAP Business Objects, Oracle, Microsoft, Microstrategy, Actuate, Information Builders' WebFOCUS, or open source)
Implement web-based BI that provides users with on-demand, self-service access to information (replace IT report development with easy-to-use browser parameterized user applications)
Ensure that web-based BI applications are developed to work seamlessly on mobile devices such as the iPhone
Implement an automated information delivery mechanism ("push" BI to internal and external users through e-mail, printers, intranet sites, report libraries, etc.)

For more information, contact me directly.

Hot Business Intelligence Software for 2010

2010-01-10T19:07:00.005-05:00

If your New Year resolution is to learn a hot Business Intelligence software product, which product should you chose? If I base my answer on the growth of job openings in Monster, you would be smart to consider SAS, MicroStrategy, and Oracle's OBIEE.

These three BI products are not necessarily direct competitors; instead, they fit into different BI areas: SAS for statistical analysis, MicroStrategy for ad-hoc reporting against large data warehouses, and Oracle for a variety of enterprise database reporting.

The number of jobs posted in Monster for Oracle's OBIEE doubled from January 2009 to 2010, going from 74 to 158. Not a huge number of jobs, but a positive trend for Oracle.

Job postings for MicroStrategy went up dramatically, from 136 at the beginning of 2009 to 227 a year later. That is a good 40% increase.

But the hottest BI technology continues to be SAS, with 1368 Monster job postings in January 2010 compared to 1195 twelve months earlier. No other BI software product had this type of job demand throughout the year. You would only see this volume of job postings for general application development tools such as Java, C#, C++, and .NET technologies.

A year ago, the closest runner-up to SAS for BI products would have been Crystal Reports with 985 job postings. But client/server desktop reporting technologies are a thing of the past, so demand for Crystal Reports plummeted throughout the year until in January 2010 we only see 608 job postings, a 62% decline.

SAP's Business Objects held steady with 729 jobs in 2009 and 738 in 2010, while demand for IBM's Cognos product dropped 23% from 823 to 667 job postings. This means that Business Object overtook Cognos in the number of Monster job postings and becomes the 2010 #2 demand under SAS.

Demand for Microsoft's Reporting Services had a slight decline, going from 518 job postings in January 2009 to 483 twelve months later. Actuate's low demand continued to drop, going from 62 job postings in January 2009 to only 48 a year later (a 29% decrease).

Information Builders' WebFOCUS product had a positive trend, but the total demand for professionals across the United States was tiny -- just 15 job postings in January 2009 while 18 a year later.

Demand for smaller products such as BIRT, Pentaho, JasperSoft, and QlikTech just never took off throughout the year.

So if you are going to add hot BI skills to your resume in 2010, consider statistical analysis with SAS, ad-hoc reporting with MicroStrategy, and enterprise reporting with Oracle's OBIEE.

MicroStrategy Celebrates 20th Anniversary

2009-11-28T12:00:00.007-05:00

Earlier this month, Matthew Ipri, MicroStrategy's Director of Marketing for the Americas, shared with me an e-mail from Sanju Bansal, MicroStrategy's COO, which coincided with their 20 year anniversary.

On 30 October 2009, Sanju wrote:

I’m delighted our quarterly revenues exceeded $100 million for the first time in our company’s history. This is a great accomplishment achieved through long-term commitment to delivering premium BI technology and service to our customers. Here’s the earnings.

This afternoon, InformationWeek and The Wall Street Journal both published positive online articles regarding our quarterly financials:

InformationWeek
The Wall Street Journal

Compare this year's Q3 performance with last year's and you will see a 39% increase in product license revenues, proving that companies are buying MicroStrategy's software. In his e-mail, Sanju listed several factors leading to this success:

Prospects increasingly believe that MicroStrategy 9 is the best BI platform in the market today
We continue to augment our customer portfolio with industry-leaders. New customers this year include Facebook, Tesco Group, Honda Europe, SUBWAY® restaurant chain, Société Générale, Dean Foods Company, U.S. Department of Energy, and Toshiba Europe, just to name a few
As current customers expand their BI deployments, they are choosing MicroStrategy for their growing requirements
Influential industry analysts such as Gartner are proactively recommending MicroStrategy technology to their clients
Innovative offerings, such as the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite, are enabling us to penetrate new markets

Sanju also credited favorable analysis reviews from Gartner and offered a link to a report on MicroStrategy's website. The document offers a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) framework for assessing the MicroStrategy 9 BI Platform and related offerings. Sanju said:

In short, Gartner addresses some of the strengths of our company, including:
The impressive features and performance of MicroStrategy 9
Our world-class customer base (many with enterprise-wide BI deployments) and the high number of customers that choose MicroStrategy as their BI standard
MicroStrategy’s low total cost of ownership, thanks to our well-integrated platform
The high level of support that we provide to our customers

Congratulations to MicroStrategy on their 20th year anniversary and for their success in 2009.

Microsoft Going for Big Corporate BI

2009-11-28T11:32:00.003-05:00

On the 23rd of November 2009, SearchDataManagement.com posted an article about Microsoft's latest foray into the Business Intelligence software space, competing with the other megavendors Oracle, SAP, and IBM.

Click on this link to read Jeff Kelly's article.

Back in the 1990s, IT shops did not see Microsoft SQL Server as a true enterprise database and went with vendors such as Oracle or IBM instead. That attitude has since changed dramatically -- SQL Server now easily competes with large capacity databases such as Oracle, DB2, and Teradata.

Not content with terabytes, Microsoft is working on massive parallel processing capabilities which will take SQL Server into the petabytes size. On the BI front-end, Microsoft is adding in-memory processing capabilities for fast online analytics.

Even though Microsoft Excel is probably the most common tool for analyzing data, is it really a BI software product?

Once limited to 64K rows, Excel used to only be appropriate for use at the small departmental or individual level. Bringing in enterprise data from disparate sources was well beyond the abilities of an end-user. Even with a "PowerPivot" front-end and powerful database processing, will Microsoft really be able to convince companies that Excel is an effective alternative to true BI products such as Cognos, Business Objects, WebFOCUS, Actuate, and Microstrategy?

DAPPER Methodology for Retiring Legacy BI Software

2009-11-28T11:01:00.002-05:00

To convert legacy BI products, Partner Intelligence employs our "DAPPER" approach, proceeding through the following phases:

D - Discover
A - Analyze
P - Perform Pilot Conversion
P - Plan for Full Conversion
E - Execute the Plan in a phased approach
R - Retire the legacy BI product

One of our first steps in a BI conversion is to get an accurate inventory of the existing legacy environment. Using our automated scanning and inventory application, Partner Intelligence can quickly provide you with details for making a proper decision about a BI rationalization initiative. Instead of paying analysts to manually look through your code over a period of time, you can use our software application to quickly scan, discover, and report on the functionality buried inside your legacy code.

Partner Intelligence can quickly and easily customize the scanning tool for your particular needs. We can automatically scan applications written with a variety of software, such as:

3GLs (COBOL, PL/1, etc.)
4GLs (NOMAD, RAMIS, FOCUS, etc.)
Mainframe Job Control Language (JCL) and logic in batch steps (SyncSort, DYL280, etc.)
SAS
RPG
SQL
Crystal Reports

We use this automated scanning to size the conversion project and to determine the feasibility of automatically converting the legacy code into modern web-based BI software.

Contact Partner Intelligence for more information.

Shift Happens

2009-09-25T23:47:00.004-04:00

See the latest version of "Shift Happens" for trends in technology and globalization. It provides amusing (we're not reading newspapers in the toilet anymore), interesting (by 2020, mobile devices will be the dominant mode of accessing the Internet), and scary trends (if you're an American, that is).