 |
THE INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE WEBLOG
The Great Ease-Of-Use Barrier
Blog Entries by Date
Understanding Customers' Many Tongues
Suppose you're a multi-billion dollar distributor with millions of parts in your catalog, but your customers send in quote requests in myriad formats, including XML files, spreadsheets, delimited lists and Word files. That's exactly the situation at electronics giant Avenet, which is using something called "semantics integration" to intelligently decipher the abstract communication coming from its buyers. Continue reading "Understanding Customers' Many Tongues"  Comments
Everybody in the business intelligence field knows how data quality problems can scuttle even the simplest BI deployments. But a recent study points to an even bigger challenge plaguing the adoption of business intelligence tools: ease-of-use. A survey from our sister publication InformationWeek found that ease-of-use issues now comprise the single biggest barrier to BI projects, according to 300 study respondents who work in business intelligence. Employees' struggles with BI tools pose greater difficulty than even data quality problems or integration and compatibility challenges. And the fourth most frequently cited problem, training, is arguably related to the ease-of-use issue. Continue reading "The Great Ease-Of-Use Barrier" Comments Readers Sound Off On Linux
Though more and more packaged BI vendors have announced support for Linux in their reporting tools this year, readers of Business Intelligence Pipeline say they still see databases as Linux's sweet spot in the BI world. Continue reading "Readers Sound Off On Linux" Comments Data Breaches Threaten Customer Intelligence
Data that can't be gathered, can't be analyzed. And that's why business intelligence pros should start paying attention to the parade of data that's marching out of supposedly secure servers at organizations of every size and stripe. According to findings from personalization software maker ChoiceStream, 63 percent of consumers in a recent survey say they fear for the security of the personal data they provide to Web sites. Continue reading "Data Breaches Threaten Customer Intelligence" Comments BPM Beyond IT
Everyone defines categories of technology differently -- from vendors and analysts to journalists and users. Here at Business Intelligence Pipeline, we consider business process management (BPM), if not a subset of BI, then at least a very close cousin. The automation of business processes inherently involves data aggregation, analysis and reporting. That's the reason we bring tips and news on BPM along with more traditional analysis, data warehousing and the like. My note to you this week focuses on a story we're running on BPM deployments and helpful steps that go beyond BPM tools themselves. Think of it as a how-to on BPM -- beyond IT and the software. That article, by Lori MacVittie of Intelligent Enterprise, explains that a good BPM deployment "not only involves the IT organization, but it also empowers business analysts to define, manage, analyze and optimize their processes." Continue reading "BPM Beyond IT" Comments Snap 'Em Up
Welcome back to the binge. Oracle and IBM both announced acquisitions last week that will have a major impact on their ability to deliver more of the data that business intelligence experts want. Both database giants, it seems, are working hard to provide wider swathes of information. As they should. And as they will continue to do. Continue reading "Snap 'Em Up" Comments Beefed-Up Bellwether
Business Objects' rivals don't like to hear the software company referred to as a "BI Bellwether." But despite advances made by the likes of Cognos and Hyperion in recent months, a bellwether is exactly what Business Objects continues to be. That said, Business Objects' most recent earnings indicate customers are maintaining a healthy appetite for BI tools. Continue reading "Beefed-Up Bellwether" Comments
|
|
Blog Channels
Cindi Howson on Business Intelligence The Brain Food Blogger Tony Byrne on Content Management SQL Puzzlers by Joe Celko Rajan Chandras on IT & Information Management Seth Grimes on Analytics In Context by Doug Henschen Phil Kemelor on Web Analytics Sandy Kemsley's Column Two Nelson King on Enterprise App Development David Linthicum on Software as a Service Natural Insight, By Mark Madsen Alan Pelz-Sharpe on Content Management Mark Smith on Performance Management Neil Raden on Business Intelligence Bruce Silver on Business Process Management Product Maven  Subscribe to RSS Archives
|
|
|