Recently in In My Opinion Category

A great opportunity to share your experiences with the community and to receive a free copy of some great research on the "Organization of Business Intelligence - Managing, Budgeting and Benefits of Business Intelligence Initiatives".

This research is provided by the BeyeNETWORK partners in Germany and will provide a global perspective on the topics. 

Business Intelligence is usually strongly focused on the technical implementation and challenges involved. However, organizational challenges need to be addressed as well.

This research examines how business intelligence initiatives are managed and budgeted and what the benefits of such initiatives are.

Get your free copy of the results and win $50 Amazon vouchers by taking part in the survey here:https://digiumenterprise.com/answer/?sid=416955&chk=ZCJHHU97

 

Thank you for your support!

Sometimes I feel like I live in an echo chamber this can be good or bad depending. The business intelligence and data warehouse community has been my home for over 15 years. So I guess that I shouldn't be surprised that from time to time I make assumptions based on my experiences. The other day a client asked me how popular the search term Business Intelligence was compared to Data Warehouse. My assumption.....BI would beat DW but they were both popular. According to the Google index over 54 million web pages contain at least one of these terms. I was half right. Business Intelligence did beat data warehouse but both are far from popular.

As you can see the two terms collided in late 2005 and business intelligence has held the top position ever since. The interesting thing is the decline. Its clear these terms are on their way out so it makes you wonder what term is leading the way.

I tried Performance management, MDM, Balanced Scorecard, Decision Support, Operational Data, even Enterprise 2.0 but none of them surpassed Business Intelligence. And then......

Yep, Analytics is hot, very hot and it got hot two full years before Tom Davenport published "Competing on Analytics".

So here's my last data tidbit of the day you can file this under things that make you go hmmmmmm. US based technology professionals have made up a very small percentage of users who search for these terms.

Many of you have utilized the highly respected OLAP Report over the past 15 years when making vendor selections or researching the market. Keeping with the times The OLAP Report has a new name -- The BI Verdict -- and has now moved to a new Web site at www.bi-verdict.com

In the interest of being transparent I have to saw that I partner with the company who produces this product but for years prior we have had access to the research and found it to be some of the best in the business. The BI Verdict is produced by BARC's team of experienced business intelligence software analysts and industry guru Nigel Pendse.

The new version of the site offers a low-priced starter-level subscription -- entitled The BI Market Guide -- giving you access to an exclusive area of The BI Verdict Web site.

The BI Market Guide is designed to steer you through the early stages of your tool selection project. With an overview of the BI market, advice on selecting BI software and product strategy guides to some of the major vendors, it will help you:

• Get your BI software selection project up and running in the right direction
• Gain an understanding of the flavors of BI software available
• Find out which products are suited to your requirements
• Benefit from proven advice on how to run a successful project
• Save time and money by taking the advice of vendor-independent experts

If you decide to upgrade to a full subscription of The BI Verdict, you will benefit from a special upgrade price.

We get to attend some very interesting events through the BeyeNETWORK as a matter of fact I am typing this blog post from the 37th floor of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas where I am attending the IBM Information On Demand Event and the SAS Premier Leadership Conference both are great events.

In a couple weeks the Network is helping to sponsor a very unique event in Boulder Colorado called the Defrag. The event focuses on topics such as:

Business Intelligence Business Process Management Social Computing and Analytics Next-level Discovery

Enterprise 2.0 Next-Gen Email The Semantic Web Social Media Monitoring and Engagement

The list of topics and speakers is fantastic and I have 1 Free Conference Pass to give away. So.....if you are interested and can guarantee that you are available to attend send me an email and I will do a random drawing on Friday of this week. (This pass doesn't include airfare or hotel) The event is November 11th and 12th and the free pass is valued at $1,495

Email me and I'll see you at Defrag 2009!!!

OMG! Are you sitting down? Yes that's right my favorite airlines looks to be getting its act together and I couldn't be happier. If you follow me on Twitter "@shawnrog" you know I fly often and I fly United. Over the past 7 months I have traveled 17 times for a total of 72 days, 68,040 miles to 28 cities in 6 countries most of this has been on United. Unfortunately, my travels result in posts that look like the one below:

United is testing a new Non-stop service from Milwaukee to Chicago -



This past week I experienced a mechanical coming home from San Diego and this is what showed up in my email prior to landing. Yes that's actual customer service folks!

---

On behalf of all of us here at United, I want to express my sincere apologies
 for the experience you had on Flight 342 on August 6, 2009.

 At United, we take pride in being a reliable part of your travel plans. Your
 satisfaction and business mean a great deal to me, I would like to invite you
 to visit the following website to select a token of our appreciation.

 http://www.united.com/appreciation

 Please have your flight information handy when you visit the site.
 Family members who traveled together using the same email address should access
 the site individually.

 Thank you for your time. Your satisfaction is important to us and we look forward
 to serving you better in the near future.

 Sincerely,

 Sherri Hermance
 United Airlines
 Customer Relations


I have to admit I was stunned!! I went home and followed the instructions and received this:

---

Dear Mr Shawn Rogers,

Thank you for accepting our token of appreciation.

$150 E-Certificate: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You may redeem your E-Certificate towards your next flight on United now.

How to redeem at a later date:
1. Go to united.com/shopforflights
2. Enter your origin and destination information.
3. Select your travel dates and enter your e-certificate number.
4. Select your flights. All selected flights must be e-certificate eligible to receive your discount.
5. Choose your seat and purchase your flight.

Please review the terms and conditions of this goodwill offer.

We appreciate hearing from our guests. It helps give us an opportunity to make significant service improvements. Our goal is to create the highest level of guest satisfaction within the airline industry.

Customer Relations

Congratulations United!!!!
Keep this up and I just might have to blog about business intelligence and data warehousing again.
Thank you for treating me like a customer.