by
Doug Henschen
August 24, 2008
Report Warns Of Data Warehouse 'Bottleneck' In Real-Time Analytics
In a report entitled "Really Urgent Analytics: The Sweet Spot for Real-Time Data Warehousing," Forrester advises intelligence and knowledge management professionals to familiarize themselves with the various approaches for adapting a data warehouse to meet real-time requirements, and, if necessary, consider bypassing the data warehouse altogether.
by Antone Gonsalves
August 18, 2008
Of BI and Baseball: Two Reports Present Vendor and Product Standings
It ain't over till it's over, and Forrester and BIScorecard reports say the business intelligence playoffs are a long way off.
by
Doug Henschen
August 11, 2008
Kimball University: Eight Recommendations for International Data Quality
Language, culture, and country-by-country compliance and privacy requirements are just a few of the tough data quality problems global organizations must solve. Start by addressing data accuracy at the source and adopting an MDM strategy, then follow these six other best-practice approaches.
by
Ralph Kimball
August 1, 2008
Enterprise in the Cloud: Q&A with Google's Rishi Chandra
As product manager at Google Enterprise, Rishi Chandra is responsible for spreading search appliances, Google Apps and a growing portfolio of services into the business world. Continuing a series of interviews on cloud computing, Intelligent Enterprise asks Chandra about Google's plans for applications, underlying infrastructure and meeting the demands of the enterprise.
by
Doug Henschen
July 21, 2008
Six Steps to Better Sales Forecasting and Demand Planning
Most companies are immature and uncoordinated when it comes to sales forecasting and demand planning. Follow these six steps to increase forecast accuracy, speed planning cycles, reduce inventory costs, end stockouts and increase customer satisfaction.
by Robert D. Kugel CFA
July 14, 2008
IDC Report Shows Steady Growth for BI, Pent-Up Demand for Analytics
Microsoft, SAS and SPSS lead marketshare gains in 2007. Analyst sees media and academia driving mainstream demand.
by
Doug Henschen
July 3, 2008
Ride the Next Wave of Flexible 'BI Workspaces'
Forrester Research says SaaS and in-memory options will let power users and analysts gain insight without IT bottlenecks. Embrace the trend, but beware the costs and risks.
by
Doug Henschen
June 30, 2008
Kimball University: Microsoft SQL Server Comes of Age for Data Warehousing
With new compression, partitioning and star schema optimization features, Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 is catching up with the state of the industry in data warehousing. Here's why these three capabilities are crucial for scalability and performance on any platform.
by
Warren Thornthwaite
June 23, 2008
Guide To Cloud Computing
The market is getting crowded with Web-based software and storage offerings. Here's what you need to know about the cloud computing strategies of Amazon, Google, Salesforce, and five other leading vendors.
by
Richard Martin
J. Nicholas Hoover
June 21, 2008
Data Warehouse Alternatives Make a Hit in India and Europe
Telco Reliance scales with DW appliances. Web marketer TradeDoubler loads and queries faster, cuts cost with a column-store database.
by
Doug Henschen
June 20, 2008
Are You Ready for Advanced Analytics?
You can now buy analytics as an add-on module for your BI suite, but you'll need expertise to make the leap into predictive analytics.
by
Doug Henschen
June 16, 2008
Predictive Analytics: Peer into the BI Crystal Ball
A new Aberdeen Group survey finds that there's no silver bullet in predictive analytic success. Here's a sampling of the approaches best-in-class firms are using to spot trends, understand customers, and proactively tune products, pricing and positioning.
by David Hatch
June 16, 2008
Q&A: Amazon on Enterprise Computing in the Cloud
Speaking at this week's Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston, Amazon's Adam Selipsky says enterprises are already embracing the agility and economies of scale of cloud computing.
by
Doug Henschen
June 9, 2008
How to Get to Better Planning and Budgeting
A new Ventana Research report finds that most companies are falling short on the basics of performance management. Here are five sets of diagnostic questions as well as best practices for broader, more responsive and more effective planning and budgeting.
by Ventana Research
June 1, 2008
Q&A With Gartner's Don Feinberg on Database as a Service and Cloud DBs
Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and Sun are now fueling the growing fire around the database-as-a-service and cloud database markets, but what's the difference between these offerings and what's the appeal? Database guru Don Feinberg defines terms and raises important questions about reliability and security.
by
Doug Henschen
May 23, 2008
Your Next Data Warehouse? Size Up Column-Store Databases and Appliances
These approaches may beat out conventional databases in price and performance. Here's how to find products that fit with your company's data analysis needs.
by
Doug Henschen
May 22, 2008
Intelligence on the Go: Mobile Delivery of BI
Many BI vendors now offer modules that let you deliver just about any report to smart phones, but as a major retailer, a health care provider and a major government agency have discovered, practical, tactical wins are the key to mobile success.
by
Doug Henschen
May 19, 2008
New York Stock Exchange Ticks on Data Warehouse Appliances
Netezza deployment replaces mega data warehouses while cutting query times from hours to seconds.
by
Doug Henschen
May 16, 2008
A Mashup Gives New Meaning to 'Military Intelligence'
In one of the most successful Web 2.0 projects in government to date, the Defense Intelligence Agency takes a mashup approach to build a military situation-awareness dashboard.
by
Nelson King
May 12, 2008
Kimball University: Better Business Skills for BI and Data Warehouse Professionals
To deliver better intelligence, BI and data warehousing teams need business acumen, interpersonal skills and communication competencies. Here are helpful tips and 12 invaluable resources for career development and success.
by
Warren Thornthwaite
May 11, 2008
What BI Practitioners Can Learn From Operations Research
Growing interest in analytics and the trend toward automated decision making will lead the business intelligence crowd toward the mix of mathematical and statistical techniques used by operations researchers.
by
Seth Grimes
May 5, 2008
IT Measures That Matter
With the right focus, an IT measurement program can return critical information specific to your organization.
by Rod Cleary
May 3, 2008
How to Choose the Right BPM Suite: From RFP to Final Selection
You've decided that business process management is right for your organization. But what's next? Here's how to build an evaluation team, write a request for proposal, review RFP responses, evaluate a short list of candidates and choose the right BPM suite.
by Andrew Spanyi
April 28, 2008
Follow Three Best Practices to Succeed at Business Activity Monitoring
BAM can monitor crucial key performance indicators around time, cost, quality, and productivity, but many firms struggle when deploying the technology. Three best practices will jump start your project and help you choose the right metrics and alert levels.
by Henry Peyret, Forrester Research
April 28, 2008
BPMS Watch Rates 11 Business Process Management Suites
The BPMS Watch Ratings Report for the Second-Quarter 2008 takes a close look at the integration, human workflow, production workflow and case management capabilities of industry-leading BPM suites. All-around standouts include BEA and Lombardi, Oracle, Software AG, EMC and Global 360.
by
Bruce Silver
April 21, 2008
How To Choose Among The Four Bright Lights Of BI
After a tumultuous year of acquisitions and consolidation, the business intelligence market is now dominated by IBM, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft. All four are pitching enterprise-wide BI platforms, each with its own twist. Here's what you need to know about them.
by
Mary Hayes Weier
April 12, 2008
Top U.S. County Reinvents Government Planning and Performance
Maricopa County links performance metrics, financial plans and strategic goals. Microsoft PerformancePoint dashboards keep managers, employees and budgets on track.
by
Doug Henschen
April 11, 2008
Kimball University: Should You Use An ETL Tool?
You can still hand-code an extract, transform and load system, but in most cases the self-documentation, structured development path and extensibility of an ETL tool is well worth the cost. Here's a close look at the pros and cons of buying rather than building.
by
Joy Mundy
April 6, 2008
Gartner BI Summit 2008: The Next Generation of Innovation
Decision making as core competency, emerging technologies as BI enablers and changes in the BI market itself are core topics at this week's Gartner Business Intelligence Summit in Chicago. Analyst Kurt Schlegel explains the trends and business drivers.
by
Doug Henschen
March 31, 2008
Gartner BI Summit 2008: Q&A With Howard Dresner
In a preview of his keynote presentation at this week's Gartner Business Intelligence Summit, former analyst Howard Dresner talks about his new book, the convergence of BI and process management, and what it takes to get to the next level of performance management.
by
Doug Henschen
March 30, 2008
The 'Secret Sauce' of BPM Success
The business process management market is heating up, and a new report reveals that centers of excellence are the key ingredient of deployment success.
by
Doug Henschen
March 24, 2008
Coldwater Creek Grows With Location Intelligence
Women's clothier relies on geospatial analysis to track customers and avoid overlaps as it adds more than 60 retail locations per year.
by
Doug Henschen
March 17, 2008
Location Intelligence: Geographic Context Spurs Innovation
Location intelligence will transform call center operations, e-commerce activities, field service and sales initiatives, but new research reveals that organizations need to look beyond obvious data sources and basic functionality for business success.
by Ventana Research
March 17, 2008
Your Data And The P2P Peril
Usher, 10,000 BC, and your company's confidential spreadsheets could all be out there for the world to grab. Here's how these data leaks happen and what you can do to prevent them.
by
John Foley
March 15, 2008
Hubs, Spokes and Buses: How to Get to a Better Data Warehouse
Are you frustrated by the inefficiency, rigidity and latency of a first-generation, hub-and-spoke-architecture data warehouse? Here's a six-step guide to evolving to a streamlined, robust Kimball Dimensional Bus Architecture that will reduce time to reporting, lower data latency, and deliver more detailed, analytically useful information.
by Jim Stagnitto
March 10, 2008
Column-Store Databases and DW Appliances: How to Make the Right Choice
With data volumes exploding, conventional enterprise data warehouses are fast running out of headroom. Data warehouse appliances are starting to fill the gap, but the emerging category of column-oriented databases may offer a better option. The key to success is matching your application to the right product.
by
Doug Henschen
March 3, 2008
Hunting The Elusive CIO Dashboard
There's not yet a foolproof method for correlating disparate IT data into useful information. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare.
by
Michael Biddick
March 1, 2008
The Road To Pervasive BI
If you're not using business intelligence tools throughout your workforce, it's time to start--or get left behind in your competitors' dust
by
Cindi Howson
February 22, 2008
