http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/ Welcome to Wayne's World, my blog that illuminates the latest thinking about how to deliver insights from business data and celebrates out-of-the-box thinkers and doers in the business intelligence (BI), performance management and data warehousing (DW) fields. Tune in here if you want to keep abreast of the latest trends, techniques, and technologies in this dynamic industry. Copyright 2013 Thu, 23 May 2013 09:29:58 -0700 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.261 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Embedded BI is a largely invisible part of the BI market, but for some vendors, such as Logi Analytics, Jaspersoft, and Pentaho, it represents a large portion of their annual revenues. And that revenue stream is destined to grow as new cloud and big data applications embed interactive reporting and analysis capabilities. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/05/evolution_of_em.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/05/evolution_of_em.php Thu, 23 May 2013 09:29:58 -0700 After a 17-year hibernation, billions of cicadas are expected to emerge from the dirt this year in the northeastern U.S. They'll make an unholy racket, then mate and deposit their larvae for another 17-year incubation period. Like the cicadas, although not as prolific or noisy, the business intelligence (BI) market has its own rhythm and cycle. Understanding that cycle can help us better forecast the future of BI and plot an effective long-term BI strategy. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/05/historical_bi_c.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/05/historical_bi_c.php Fri, 10 May 2013 11:08:51 -0700 Former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner once said, "I came to see, in my time at IBM, that culture isn't just one aspect of the game--it is the game." Likewise, after 20 years of researching and consulting, I can confidently say that the key to success with business intelligence is managing cultural change. I recently read the book "Switch" by Chip and Dan Heath, and I recommend it to anyone who manages or directs a BI program. It's full of great advice for how get individuals and groups moving in new directions. To crystalize the authors' key messages (which by the way is critical to managing change), the way to get people to change habits is to appeal to their head, heart, and herd. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/04/summarizing_swi.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/04/summarizing_swi.php Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:36:19 -0700 Hadoop was designed as a batch processing environment. But oddly, most people view Hadoop as an exploratory environment in which data scientists (i.e. quintessential power users) can mine mountains of data to find valuable insights. Many companies are eager to unleash their data scientists on Web logs to better understand how customer shopping behavior and Twitter and Facebook feeds to better understand customer sentiment. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/04/the_irony_of_ha.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/04/the_irony_of_ha.php Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:57:37 -0700 Every quarter the BI Leadership Forum conducts a survey. This quarter we are exploring the state of adoption of visual discovery tools, one of the fastest growing segments in the BI market. Visual discovery tools, such as those from QlikTech and Tableau, are powerful self-service and analytical tools but can potentially cause problems for BI managers because they are often purchased under the radar, creating spreadmarts. Please spend 10 minutes completing our survey so we can better understand the strategies... http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/04/bi_managers_how.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/04/bi_managers_how.php Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:09:59 -0700 The market for business intelligence (BI) tools is crowded. There are many technologies and products clamoring for customer attention. Figure 1 below shows nine categories of BI technology that exist in the market today, most of which overlap to some degree. Organizations need each of these technologies to deliver a comprehensive set of BI services. (See the appendix below for a description of all nine categories.) However, organizations don't need to purchase nine different tools from nine different vendors. Many vendors offer suites of BI tools that span multiple technologies, although most BI vendors only offer one or two technologies. Thus, it is possible for a company to standardize on a single large BI vendor whose toolset encompasses all nine technology categories. But this may not be the best strategy since an "all-in-one" solution does not necessarily deliver "best of breed" products. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/03/a_guide_for_bi.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/03/a_guide_for_bi.php Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:58:03 -0700 Every year at the end of winter, I spend a day and a half with the good folks from Informatica who provide the analyst community with an up close and personal look at the company's strategy and current and future product portfolio. Here are some of the highlights from this year's event: http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/03/reflections_on.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/03/reflections_on.php Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:25:17 -0700 After attending several big data conferences, I had to ask myself, "What's really new here?" After all, as a data warehousing practitioner, I've been doing "big data" for some 20 years. Sure, the scale and scope of big data has changed along with the types of data that are processed, but so much seems a rehash of what our industry has already figured out. After some deliberation, I came to the conclusion that there are six unique things about the current generation of "big data" which has become synonymous with Hadoop. Here they are: http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/02/what_is_unique.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/02/what_is_unique.php Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:59:40 -0700 When I went to my first big data conference almost three years ago, I thought I had been transported to a parallel universe: everyone was talking about data and analytics, yet data warehousing was a dirty word. Then, I looked at how people were dressed. I was the only person in the hall with a sports jacket, collar shirt, and leather shoes. Everyone else was wearing jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers and sported a pony tail. Then, it dawned on me: these were Java developers who had outgrown MySQL and were looking for a more scalable open source platform to run data-intensive, Web-based applications. And Hadoop was the answer to their big data dreams. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/02/the_meaning_of.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/02/the_meaning_of.php Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:58:44 -0700 Have you ever seen anything more hyped in the history of information management than big data? I haven't. Ok, artificial intelligence probably incited a similar media storm, but that was before my time. The ironic thing is that data by itself has no intrinsic value. For example, if I gave you three numbers--100,000, 300,000, and 500,000--do they provide any value to you or your organization? Of course not. What if I told you those numbers referred to US currency? I've provided more context, but still no value. What if I said those figures referred to your manufacturing organization's net profits for the past three quarters? Now, that's interesting and certainly good news. But still the data offers no business value. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/02/big_data_big_sc.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/02/big_data_big_sc.php Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:19:54 -0700 "It's ironic that we are the group that measures everything in the organization, but we don't have a good way to measure ourselves and our effectiveness." This is basically what Eric Colson, former VP of Data Science and Engineering at Netflix, told me when I asked him how he measured the success of his BI and analytics team. (Eric is now chief data officer at Stitch Fix.) When I pressed him, Eric said the best empirical measure of BI success that he could come up with was the number of times business unit heads mentioned his team at their regular operational review meetings. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/01/how_to_measure.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2013/01/how_to_measure.php Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:13:12 -0700 It's never too early to start prognosticating about the year ahead. But rather than deliver another set of ho-hum predictions, I'm going to articulate new catch phrases that you will hear in 2013. Below I've concocted six catch phrases, each for a different segment of the BI market, from bleeding edge to newbie. If you've heard any of these already, let me know! Or add your own in the comments section below or send them to me at weckerson@bileadership.com. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/catch_phrases_f.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/catch_phrases_f.php Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:53:03 -0700 We all know that people, process, and technology are the keys to unlocking the business value of information technology. Although many organizations know how to setup and manage technology projects, they are less adept at setting up and managing their human resources. Although there are no hard and fast rules about how to implement a BI Center of Excellence, top performing business intelligence programs usually adopt a common structure. After interviewing dozens of BI leaders for my recently published book, Secrets of Analytical Leaders: Insights from Information Insiders, I began to see that most BI Centers of Excellence have a tripartite structure consisting of an executive team, a business team, and a technical team. (See figure 1.) http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/how_to_structur.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/how_to_structur.php Analytics Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:22:05 -0700 Strata+Hadoop World 2012 held in New York City several weeks ago showcased dozens of big data technologies, showing the breadth and depth of solutions that now run on or integrate with Hadoop. In a prior blog, I discussed the overarching trends fueling the big data movement and its implications for traditional data warehousing and business intelligence vendors and ecosystems. (See "TDWI 1997 Versus Hadoop World 2012".) During my two days in New York, I spent time with numerous analytical, data integration, database, and infrastructure vendors, most of whom were touting innovative products designed to meet emerging big data needs. Perhaps the two most interesting categories of tools I saw are those that provide real-time SQL queries against Hadoop and end-to-end analytical tools with embedded data processing capabilities. http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/new_technologie.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/new_technologie.php Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:00:01 -0700 I've attended numerous big data events during the past three years, but the Strata/Hadoop World in New York City had the most people and buzz of any so far. With more than 2,500 attendees crammed into the New York Hilton Hotel, the conference was a bit of a madhouse, exploding with energy and possibility. It's clear that after simmering for several years, big data has finally captured the imagination and attention of the industry as a whole. In fact, this year's Hadoop World reminded me of the early years of data warehousing. In 1997, The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) held its largest conference ever in a ramshackle two-story hotel on the outskirts of San Diego alongside the freeway. At the time, data warehousing was a red hot phenomenon and there was so much interest in this new technology that I missed out on getting a room at the event hotel. So every morning, I walked under the freeway to learn about the latest and greatest in data warehousing. This daily 20-minute vigil was a small sacrifice knowing that I was on to something groundbreaking! http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/hadoop_world_ve.php http://www.b-eye-network.com/blogs/eckerson/archives/2012/11/hadoop_world_ve.php Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:15:54 -0700