Trends and Outliers
TIBCO Spotfire's Business Intelligence Blog
Category Archives: Self-Service BI
2012
5 Ways Data Analysis, Data Discovery Bolster Executive Performance
Executives are not only responsible for their own performances, but also for the performances of dozens if not hundreds or thousands of other employees, according to a recent Aberdeen Group report on executive analytics.
Because of fast-changing market conditions and customer attitudes, executives must be able to act quickly on business trends as they develop.
We outline five ways that data analysis and data discovery can strengthen executive decision making and improve organizational performance:
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Filed under: Data Analytics, Data Discovery, Enterprise, Self-Service BI
2012
7 Tips for Sharing Big Data Insights with the C-Suite
Pop quiz. What’s appealing to an executive?
A) a 26-tab Excel spreadsheet
B) a 54-slide PowerPoint with 9-point font (to fit in all the words)
C) a dazzling data visualization that he can view from a dashboard
If you answered C, you’re at the top of the class. According to recent research (and common sense) from the Farland Group, a marketing consulting firm, executives simply don’t have time to dig into massive spreadsheets nor follow a highly technical roadmap to the facts that support buying decisions.
The research shows that execs care about insights, but those insights must meet some exacting criteria to get their attention, not to mention buy-in for your data-driven project. Take heed of these seven tips for sharing big data insights with the C-suite next time you’re faced with the big meeting.
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Filed under: Big Data, Business Intelligence, Data Analytics, Self-Service BI
2011
Ease of Use the Key to Dashboards That Work for Everyone
If there’s anything we’ve learned about the growth of analytics it’s that users demand an easy to use, simple to share dashboard view to speed up the arrival of insights that fuel decision making.
As we saw in a recent blog post by David Menninger of Ventana Research, the design and user experience are real markers left by the late Steve Jobs. Apple’s focus on design and devices are based around being simple enough that even a toddler can operate it.
While user experience is a major component of a BI application, it’s the dashboard view that we’re after in using analytics to make informed decisions. The Internet has trained today’s technology users to look for information in an instant, to have an interactive experience and to share data quickly.
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2011
Becoming a Social Enterprise
This is a guest blog post by Lyndsay Wise (@wiseanalytics), president and founder of WiseAnalytics. Lyndsay has ten years of IT experience in business systems analysis, software selection, and implementation of enterprise applications. She provides consulting services for small and mid-sized companies and conducts research into leading technologies, market trends, BI products and vendors, mid-market needs, and data visualization.Traditional BI has always promised better information visibility and time savings through analytics. Unfortunately this came at a cost – it required a large data warehousing infrastructure, pre-defined reports and OLAP cubes for analysis, high-level technical skills, and dedicated IT staff to maintain the constant state of development and requests from users.
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Filed under: Business Intelligence, Self-Service BI, Social BI
2011
Q & A on Cloud BI with Shawn Rogers
Today on the Spotfire blog, we’re sharing a Q&A on cloud BI with Shawn Rogers (@shawnrog), Vice President Research for Business Intelligence at Enterprise Management Associates. Rogers will join us tomorrow to record an On-Demand Webcast on “Cloud Analytics and the Consumer”.
Q: Who benefits most from cloud BI?
A: The benefit is two-fold to users and companies. Research shows that companies get to skip much of the up-front costs when they go with BI in the cloud. And in the long-term, it requires less head count in maintaining and operational costs. Additionally, projects often get off the ground faster because standing up cloud BI solutions happens more quickly.
End-users also benefit from the SaaS vendors’ purpose-built BI software. These solutions typically offer the user a better interface, newer features and ease-of-use. Additionally, users benefit from the web-based solutions because they are more mobile and offer anytime access to data.
Filed under: BI in the Cloud, Cloud Computing, Self-Service BI
2011
BI Training – An Important Factor at All Company Levels
According to a recent Computerworld article by Sandra Gittlen, complex BI and analytics tools are headed the way of the big box store – out of the picture. Today’s BI vendors are embracing the midmarket and SMB markets because accessibility is the market demand.
Self-Service Impacting BI Adoption
As Forrester advanced analytics analyst, James Kobielus (@JamesKobielus) says in the article, “The industry evolution toward self-service BI and SaaS BI is having a big impact on adoption in companies of all sizes.”
Additionally, he says these cloud-based platforms offer companies huge advantages in lean times – from pay-as-you-go models, a broader user base, less IT involvement and lower capital costs.
While these advantages signify a move to smaller accounts, BI still
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Filed under: BI in the Cloud, SaaS BI, Self-Service BI
2011
2 More Hot Trends in Business Intelligence
This is a guest blog post by Marcus Borba (@marcusborba), the founder of Borba Consulting, a Business Intelligence and Performance Management consultancy located in Brazil. Marcus has over 10 years of experience providing consulting services to designing and implementing business intelligence and performance management solutions. He also writes a blog called Business Intelligence News.
In Part One of this update we revisited the 7 Hot Trends in Business Intelligence. In addition to these trends, the terms “self-service” and “open source” are being seen a lot these days in discussions of business intelligence. To complete the trends update, we’ll take a look at these concepts and where they are headed.
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Filed under: Business Intelligence, Open-Source BI, Self-Service BI
2011
Self-Service Business Intelligence is Catching On — And Paying Off
Today’s line managers need more information and need it faster in order to make complex decisions in real time. This puts intense pressure on IT departments to keep up with requests for reports. Even with standard reports, everybody wants something just a little different and it’s almost impossible for IT to respond in real time, even if they had an enormous staff – which they don’t. The slow economic times have forced companies to become leaner, especially with IT support staff. Spreadsheets aren’t an option for mainstream users if they want to import, summarize and analyze large data sets. Even technically proficient users often wind up with inconsistent and inaccurate results from complex spreadsheets they create. With all of these things happening at the same time, it’s no wonder that self-service Business Intelligence is becoming the choice of both end users and IT departments. A recent article in Computerworld describes how self-service BI is really catching on – and really paying off for some companies.
Filed under: BI in the Cloud, Self-Service BI
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