BI Magic Quadrant Casting a Spell Over Visionary BI Leaders
March 7, 2013
Gartner’s business intelligence software Magic Quadrant has some big players chomping at the bit. Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM are all major forces in the business intelligence arena and they all want a piece of MQ.
In ZDnet’s “Gartner Releases 2013 BI Magic Quadrant” we get a look at those big fish and why they’re interested in this new Magic Quadrant. One thing to keep at the forefront is that Microsoft, IBM, SAP, and Oracle figure prominently into both business intelligence and data warehousing; which is why they all want a piece of MQ, it has both BI and DW capabilities.
“…And speaking of the Big Data world, you will see in the BI MQ report, as you did in the DW MQ, that partnerships and connectors to major Hadoop distributions, and the beginnings of standardization on the R programming language for statistics and predictive analytics, is starting to take place. In fact, in the near future, we may find that distinguishing between DW, BI and Big Data markets will be a contrived endeavor. These worlds will likely become like neighborhoods in the same city…”
Microsoft is a leader in the ability to execute and it has more than a little BI experience but IBM is really the frontrunner in the completeness of its vision. It is a master of acquisition and it is those planned and executed acquisitions that have propelled IBM forward in the era of Microsoft.
That Gartner has been able to develop a system that has excited the Big Four and created a veritable “arms” race is something to smile about.
Leslie Radcliff, March 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
MicroStrategy Making No Small Changes to Business Intelligence
March 7, 2013
MicroStrategy rolls out big changes in the mobile computing marketplace in 2013 despite interior reorganization and the future looks bright for the business intelligence technology provider.
“MicroStrategy Doubles Down on Mobile Data Visualization,” gives us a look into the intelligence vender and its updated focus on cloud, social and visual analysis and how it will fare against opponents like Oracle and Tableau.
“Mobile has been a big part of MicroStrategy’s focus for at least three years, and it has been steadfast in its strategy to build native apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The native-app approach differs from that of many other BI vendors who are betting on HTML 5… In its latest release, MicroStrategy has continued to refine the online and offline performance of its mobile apps with smart caching, support for video and PDF content inside dashboards, and usage tracking of BI activities on the device.”
Big changes were announced for MicroStrategy’s 9.3 release and includes an upgrade to Visual Insight, Micro’s visual data discovery technology; the Cloud, now in its second year also looks promising and has more than 30,000 users. A big boost in social networking intelligence will also be an asset though it is still to be seen whether customers can handle their own internal data before they make the jump to social sphere origination.
A big question regarding MicroStrategy is whether or not they will continue to see growth under reconstruction after poor execution in 2012. Compared to the rest of the BI world, it really did not grow into its potential. However, it is a company to take note of and follow.
Leslie Radcliff, March 07, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Ushahindi Revises SwiftRiver Platform
March 6, 2013
Ushahidi shares information on the latest version of its open-source intelligence platform in, “SwiftRiver Throws a Lifeline to People Drowning in Information.” The group is mixing its metaphors—rivers do not throw lifelines, people do. No matter; we’ll cut them some slack since we appreciate their dedication to open source.
SwiftRiver does what many, many programs do—wrestle huge amounts of data from disparate sources into something manageable and, ideally, useful. One difference from other options—this platform sorts for authority and accuracy, not simple popularity. The developers have devised some terminology that is kind of cute, but also memorable and intuitive. The write-up tells us:
“Simply, the ‘river’ is made up by billions of bits of information. In the context of SwiftRiver, we call these things ‘droplets.’ For example, common droplets in the river are tweets, Facebook updates, and blog posts. These are common examples, but by definition, things like text messages, emails, and even rows in a database table are considered droplets, too. . . .
“Once SwiftRiver analyzes all the droplets, you then have the ability to filter them down from that torrential river to a manageable stream. In addition to filtering, you can run different analyses on them, helping you get the ‘big picture’ of your set of droplets.”
The team rebuilt much of SwiftRiver so it would play nicely with the Ushahidi core platform and its Crowdmap, but it also works as a standalone application.
The non-profit Ushahidi, whose name means “testimony” in Swahili, has unusual roots. It began as a Web site which mapped episodes of violence and peace efforts, as reported by witnesses online or with mobile phones, across Kenya in 2008. The platform designed to managed these reports grew into SwiftRiver. The organization has since dedicated itself to developing open source-software that democratizes information collection, visualization, and interactive mapping. Their volunteer developers reside primarily in Africa, but Europe, South America, and the U.S. are also represented.
Cynthia Murrell, March 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
JackBe Releases Presto 3.5 BI Solution
March 4, 2013
The Best Analytics Blog presents us with quite the string of buzzwords in, “JackBe Brings Metric-Driven Real-Time Operational Intelligence to Front-Line. . . .” The press release tells us that the business intelligence outfit JackBe has released the newest version of its flagship product, Presto. This version is said to improve the accessibility of the software’s operational measures. The write-up states:
“Presto 3.5 extends its user-friendly interface to include new options to create dashboards through drag-and-drop, to add custom visualizations as easily as plugging in the view, and to customize Presto with a customer’s own logo and colors. Once created, all Presto dashboards are portable with HTML5 apps that run anywhere, including SharePoint, portals, websites, tablets and mobile phones with the same look-and-feel of the native device. Presto 3.5 has enhanced security for mobile devices and a more secure single-sign-on experience for social media sites.”
JackBe emphasizes real-time intelligence tools and easy-to-use dashboards while promising tight security features. They also offer their own add-ons for use with mobile devices, portals, and SharePoint. The company is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with offices in Mexico City and Fremont, California.
Cynthia Murrell, March 04, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
InetSoft Releases a New Version of Its BI Software
March 4, 2013
Business intelligence and analytics outfit InetSoft has released the latest version of its BI suite, Style Intelligence, we learn from “InetSoft Releases Style Intelligence 11.4” at the Technology Evaluation Centers’ blog. With this iteration, the company aims to ramp up support for both collaborative and self-service features. The write-up tells us:
“Some new key features include the ability to include annotations, which allow users to write comments on any dashboard and share them with team members, as well as bookmarks, which allow users to save the settings of a particular view, enabling users to get back to a certain pre-configured visualization to review or share with others.
“On the search side, Style Intelligence has been enhanced with features that allow users to perform search across report metadata to ease their discovery process.”
Writer Jorge Garcia notes that the platform’s data mashup features, combined with the communication tools mentioned above, make for easier collaboration and information-sharing.
Launched in 1996, InetSoft makes its home in Piscataway, New Jersey. The company deploys its business intelligence software to enterprises large and small, across industries, worldwide. Their focus on pleasing and interactive dashboards helps organizations ensure their end users make the most of their software investment.
Cynthia Murrell, March 04, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Set Up A Competitive Intelligence Function In A Nonce
March 2, 2013
Intelligence can no longer be regulated to the CIA, FBI, or large business corporations, instead anyone can start a competitive intelligence department. It only takes a desire and technical knowledge, but how do you get started? Digimind wrote a simple how-to article called, “Top Tips: Setting Up A Market Or Competitive Intelligence Function.” There is an increasing need for organizations to implement a competitive intelligence plan, because of the competitive and globalized marketplace.
Digimind asked Suki Fuller, a Strategic Intelligence Advisor and also a Senior Analyst with DC Analytics, about what advice she would give to organizations just starting. She offers the usual implementation plan and know your field in and out. She does offer a new insight:
“Network – make friends with at least one key person in every division. Gain an understanding into their tasks and how this may impact the overall company strategy. Build these relationships so information can be gained straight from the source and doesn’t have to travel through as many layers of the internal channels.”
One would be surprised how lack of communication across division bungles information gathering. Making it clear what the advantages of competitive intelligence are and how everyone can contribute to it. Glad this stuff is pretty easy to do with regulations and staff turnover taking place.
Whitney Grace, March 02, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Data Delivery Solutions Connect Data Points from Different Apps
February 27, 2013
It is clear that the big data space is going through a huge transformation. As vendors and experts in the industry alike push to define burgeoning technologies into niche-specific solutions, there is bound to be confusion at times and complete clarity at other points. A recent Forbes article called “Big Data “A-Ha” Moment?” discusses this industry and adjacent ones in terms of both the struggles and space for opportunities.
It seems that many can agree that the big data industry has large sums of money written all over it. Estimates from Gartner to Wikibon range from $23 Billion to $3.8 Trillion. However, the closely related industry of business intelligence has been stuck at a 24% scorecard from Gartner.
According to the article:
Many reasons have been cited for this; from expensive software, to poor usability to complex integration issues. While each of the above certainly plays a role in the lack of adoption, my observations have been that, the culture of elitism generated in the world of data has done nothing but scare the most common of companies. And this trend has been amplified recently. Look, I too admire Nate Silver, Facebook and Google for the great work they do with Data.
One of the hallmarks of the niche of big data technologies that fall under the category of data delivery solutions is their intuitive user experience and the integrative abilities to connect multiple pieces of data from different applications under one roof.
Megan Feil, February 27, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search.
Information Builders Recognized in Annual Gartner BI Report
February 23, 2013
Yep, it is the good old magic quadrant. One firm is trumpeting its inclusion in Gartner Research‘s annual BI report, we learn from “Information Builders Positioned as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms,” posted at Reuters. The well-established Information Builders was happy to find itself in the Leaders Quadrant of that report, based on an evaluation of its WebFOCUS BI suite. The press release reveals:
“According to the report, the BI and analytics platform is ‘a software platform that delivers 15 capabilities across three categories: integration, information delivery, and analysis.’ In the report, Gartner states: ‘This emphasis on data discovery from most of the leaders in the market—which are now promoting tools with business-user-friendly data integration, coupled with embedded storage and computing layers (typically in-memory/columnar) and unfettered drilling—accelerates the trend toward decentralization and user empowerment of BI and analytics, and greatly enables organizations’ ability to perform diagnostic analytics.'”
The WebFOCUS suite is integrated with the company’s iWay data adapters, and both are increasingly available on mobile devices. Founded in 1975 and headquartered in New York City, Information Builders supplies data-management and analysis solutions to organizations worldwide. The company prides itself on innovation and superior customer service.
Cynthia Murrell, February 23, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Sinequa Highlighted by Yandex
February 22, 2013
I noticed this morning that Sinequa, a vendor which provides a unified information access solution has been moved to the top of the Yandex results list. I was poking around the Yandex system to see how the Google challenger was handling some European analytics, content processing, business intelligence, and search vendors.
On a previous test, Yandex displayed a link to a site offering translations of Latin phrases. (Sinequa, as you may recall from your school days, can be translated as “an essential component or element.” I had one Latin teacher suggest that sinequa indicated “none higher.” Yet another of the specialists who with whom I studied boiled the connotation down to “excellence.”)
CrunchBase describes the company this way:
Sinequa helps companies and organizations to cope with the data explosion and enterprise transformation. Sinequa’s unique value proposition is to provide an out-of-the-box enterprise search solution leveraging all enterprise content, resulting in significant savings for large organizations. Sinequa’s customers are some of the most innovative companies in the world including Siemens, Mercer, EADS, Saint-Gobain, SalesForce.com, Bouygues, SFR, Atos Origin, Loreal, LCF Rothschild, Credit Agricole, the French Ministry of Defense, Groupe Figaro.
You can obtain more information about the company at www.sinequa.com. As an aside, I find the Yandex results increasingly useful. Check the system out at www.yandex.com.
Stephen E Arnold, February 22, 2013
A Big Data Partnership
February 17, 2013
Big data inspire companies to partner up and pool their research and products. Datameer, the Hadoop big data analytics leader, and Caserta Concepts, a consulting and technology business specializing in big data analytics, BI, and data warehousing, have formed a joint partnership. Virtual Strategy runs through the details in the article, “Caserta Concepts Announces Partnership With Datameer For Big Data Analytics On Hadoop.”
The companies have paired up, because of a study done by Ventana Research’ entitled, “The Challenge of Big Data” by Mark Smith. The research explains that average users find it hard to make sense of the data Hadoop captures, because they are more used to working with Excel or other BI intelligence dashboards. Datameer’s software allows the everyman user to read and harness the power of Hadoop with familiar dashboards and tools.
“’We are very pleased to partner with Datameer, the only provider of big data analytics built natively on Hadoop’” said Joe Caserta, founder and CEO of Caserta Concepts. ‘As organizations struggle to make sense of all their available data, Datameer’s big data analytics and discovery solution makes Hadoop’s power and flexibility instantly accessible to business analysts and data scientists alike.’”
What does this partnership teach us? It teaches that while big data is desirable, many users do not have the experience using analytics tools. Big data tools need to be user-friendlier if anything is going to be gleaned from it.
Whitney Grace, February 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
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