Last week I wrote about the TDWI Executive Summit vendor panel discussion on the Future of BI. It was a great chance to hear what was on the mind of the business executive audience and hear what vendors have to say. There were no surprises in the topics and really none in the responses. And, for the most part, the vendors did a good job remaining neutral and not turning it into a chance to advertise their own products.

Here are the rest of the topics discussed. To read part one, click HERE.

Open Source – Open source can be good when it is properly defined and broadly accepted. For example, Google Search and Apache are now commonplace in many organizations. It’s critical that the open source products have a good following and great support.

Data Virtualization – The trend towards data virtualization or federation seems to switch back and forth – much like the trend to centralize and decentralize. There seems to always be a need for virtualization, but the real need should be identified in the business requirements.

BPM and BI – There is a trend toward monitoring Lean improvements with BI. Lean methodologies can drive out the metrics which can then be used in process decision points, sometimes through predictive models. Be sure to use BI to communicate the value that the business process change will provide.

Data Integration – Data integration is still a challenge for many. It’s critical to understand your business needs on timing for getting data through the “ecosystem.” Couple the timing needs with your organization’s ability and decide whether batch, trickle, or real-time makes the best sense.

Collaboration – Many products are beginning to do a better job incorporating collaboration features. For example, SalesForce.com has their Chatter feature, much like a Facebook for the enterprise. Now Tibco is offering Tibbr, with features also similar to Facebook. User expectations will only continue to rise.

IT Roles – IT roles for BI will become more specialized. With BI becoming mission critical, support responsibilities become more important and will require a greater understanding and closer monitoring. Interesting side note is that LinkedIn did an internal study and found the job title with the most growth is “business analyst.”

It was another good conference with great networking opportunities. It was fun to get a chance to talk to business people from many different industries. While they each face similar challenges, their need for BI can be so different.

I was also encouraged talking to vendors who tell me that the conversations they had with attendees were much more detailed and serious, rather than “window shopping” types of conversations.

Looking forward to next time!

AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI

Last week I had to opportunity to attend the TDWI conference on BI in Las Vegas. While TDWI actually holds four conferences every year, this first one of the year is always the largest. This year, things seemed to be hopping with over 750 attendees.

During the conference, I spent some time in the TDWI Executive Summit. The summit is meant to give executives who have some responsibility for BI a high-level overview of various topics of concern and interest. While the regular TDWI sessions (classes) are a half to full day, the Executive Summit presentations are generally an hour each.

Wrapping up the third day of the summit was the vendor panel. The forum was open, allowing anyone in the audience to ask questions of the panel. What follow is a synopsis of the most popular items that were discussed. The comments are from the vendors and not necessarily my own opinions:

Mobile BI – Mobile BI must do more than put a computer screen on a mobile phone. While it has a great form factor and can combine additional contextual knowledge, such as current location, security factors need to be considered and there needs to be a consistent semantic layer across all modes of distribution, whether it’s a phone or a laptop.

Tool Consolidation – It’s very difficult to get the organization to agree to one tool, but you can get close. It’s important to make sure users have the tool they need but also important that there is interoperability across the tool suite. Additional thoughts are the ability for users to self-service their BI needs and to provide governance.

Cloud BI – It’s very early in the cloud BI space. The recommendation is to start with a specific project, especially one that might require external data such as sentiment data. It can make for a great exploration sandbox. Cloud BI must be a solution to a business need, not a shiny new trend to be embraced.

Social Media Data – Also known as social media analytics (SMA), this is definitely a new trend that has incredible value. It’s a great way to understand what people are talking about, looking at patterns in conversation. The discoveries can be surprising. For example, a hotel chain did a customer survey and found they have good results. But, when they looked at conversations on Trip Advisor they were surprised by the negative feedback with specific details.

Check back next week for the rest of the topics discussed in TDWI’s Future of BI vendor panel!



AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI

This week I had the opportunity to attend the 2009 Tableau Customer Conference. Tableau is a business intelligence company which is my niche and they specialize in visual analysis and data visualization. I struck a deal with them to do some conference blogging in return for a press pass. Something you might want to think about for your own B2B niche.

Anyway, I must say I’m thoroughly impressed with this company. They are relatively small but you’d never know it. In this tight economy, with travel budgets clamped down, they still managed to get over 300 attendees, half again what they had the previous year. And, their customers are passionate about their software. The conference has been very successful at staying in touch with customers and keeping them engaged.

Tableau does a great job marketing without being over the top. They reach their customers and prospects at their level. Their website is fairly simple but has all the information the web visitor needs. They have a full-time web analytics/search marketing manager who provides input into the web design, helps with web testing, and works to rise Tableau to the top of search results.

They also continue to touch but not bombard their customers with their newsletter that comes out every other month. Another way they stay in touch is through Twitter. Their employees regularly use Twitter and their company Twitter handle is active as well.

In fact, what impressed me most was how passionate and happy their employees are. From the CEO, Christian Chabot, to the VP of Marketing, Elissa Fink, down to the sales staff and developers, they have fun. And what I know is that happy employees make happy teams that make great products.

Bottom line, you are always in the eyes of your customer so make sure they are seeing the best side. Find ways to show them your company’s true personality. Tableau has obviously done that.

If you’re curious about Tableau’s data visualization software, check out their beginner’s guide to data visualization.

AMC - Content Marketing for BI and High Tech - Freelance Marketer for High Tech with a focus on BI