Recently in Business Intelligence for the masses Category

Its a question that I'm sure keeps some software executives awake at night. They have all but taken over the web analytics space causing market leaders to retool their offerings or move away from the segment all together. With the recent launch of Google Public Data Explorer they are now dipping their toe into the world of data analysis and visualization. Coupled with the recent surge of freely available online databases like OECD Factbook, Un-Employment in the US from the Bureau of Labor and a dozen or so others. Google is truly delivering easy to use and somewhat powerful analytics tools to the masses.

The interface is easy and simple to use includes lots of sliders and click boxes. They have even integrated Google maps into the application to supply simple Geo based features. Its clear that Google could step into the Enterprise Software space pretty easily and with the SaaS and Cloud foundation they already have in place they are well positioned to be a disruptor in the business intelligence arena.

The SaaS space continues to roll forward at lightening speed and Birst is moving faster than most. With only a year on the market they are launching Version 4.0 and adding features to their system that will make the enterprise IT guys stand up and take notice.

SaaS BI is a great way for many companies to address analytic needs but since the beginning security, data integration, governance and control have made many tentative to embrace the technology. Birst's latest upgrade addresses all of these hurdles. The parts I liked most are Birst Live Access it allows you to access your own data from behind the firewall and include it in your SaaS based analysis. They have also built out connectors that will allow you to integrate data from other applications like SalesForce and Google Analytics and even connectivity to desktop Access DB's and Excel to bring together a federated view of your business data.Your data stays where you have it but at the same time you benefit from a SaaS hosted BI application. The other exciting feature here is if the data you own is configured in a real-time model you can leverage that performance on Birst so real-time in the cloud becomes much simpler too.

Version 4 also has added Birst Advanced ETL this upgraded feature gives you the ability to customize the ETL to meet special corporate and analytical requirements.

There are many other feature upgrades in this version including newly enhanced dashboards and administration that now includes Flash Flex providing a more rich and interactive experience with the solution. On the Dashboard front the Flex Flash provides the business user with a more discovery rich interface allowing for easier drill downs, views and even drag and drop features to make getting answers from the data easier.

SaaS continues to be a leading area of interest with our audience at the NETWORK and these types of product announcements are proof that the segment is evolving fast to meet the needs of the growing user base.

I was listening to my favorite podcast program today (This Week in Tech - TWIT 183) and writer, new media expert Corey Doctorow put a fine point on how media is evolving. He talked about the way that technology can force a chasm and then perhaps acceptance. And that the old media delivery systems tend to get folded into the new. The first published newspaper was the The Boston News-Letter, a weekly which debuted in 1704 I'm not sure how it performed from a financial perspective but it did spawn an industry that is now evolving away from its roots landing publications online or on devices like the Amazon Kindle and iPhone.

Perhaps the future of newspaper may in fact parallel that of other media that came before it like opera and poetry which are generally not a profitable today and in the case of Opera are often funded by the wealthy. In a future world the idea of a viable newspaper model may be something printed on a expensive cloth, ironed by the butler and delivered to the rich weirdo in the penthouse.

I think it draws an interesting parallel to what is happening in our industry. The old delivery systems are getting folded into the new. Early on reporting seemed to have significant value it didn't even need to be pretty it was just great to have. Reporting, while still valuable is giving way to Performance Management and the ability to respond verses observe this is the value many companies need from BI today. The systems of today are focusing on mass adoption, A-ha moments that allow users to deep dive and explore and added value from unstructured and semi-structured sources not previously part of the equation. What are these technologies going to fold into? Is it Real-time access, SaaS, Embedded Business Intelligence, Open Source? Which of these will force the irrefutable chasm that will spawn the next age of business intelligence?

So the question remains,  is the business intelligence system you have today best suited for rich weirdo's?

I just did a talk last week at a user group on the future of business intelligence. The quick version of the speech is that I see a collision of the web 2.0 community and business intelligence happening around us. Knowledge workers that are just starting to enter the workforce expect their BI tools to resemble Google and other search engines and they want the flexibility to share and use business intelligence on platforms that they are comfortable with. Blogs and social networks are the platform of choice for many of these people. Most BI vendors are still struggling to deliver BI beyond the firewall and some don't even think its necessary.

I really believe as more people in the enterprise get their hands on business intelligence the demand for innovative delivery will follow fast. LogiXML launched Widgenie this week a site that allows you to tap into data (excel, CSV and more coming soon) and produce a dynamic widget that you can embed on your iGoogle page, in your blog or just about anywhere on the web in 3 quick steps.

Arman Eshraghi Founder and CEO gets where business intelligence is heading and is out front with enabling technologies like Widgenie. The BETA version is open to the public and according Arman you will see continued enhancements over the coming months. The widget below took me less than 5 minutes to build and is driven by an Excel spreadsheet and the Widgenie solution.

Sharing this chart is as easy as clicking on the "Grab Me" button and embedding the chart on your site.

The buzz around LogiXML is growing to see more check out this Washington Post article on Arman from this week.

Tags: LogiXML, Widgenie, business intelligence, widget, gadget, web 2.0

Is it me or shouldn't every city have a business intelligence and performance management system like the one just rolled out in New York? The new Citywide Performance Reporting (CPR) system powered by Oracle and designed to give every citizen insight into 40 agencies and 100's of KPI's is a very cool idea.

Any citizen logged into the system can quickly have a dashboard view of just about any city agencies performance. If your interested in street cleaning, potholes or the trend this past year on firefighter response time its all at your fingertips. The performance indicators provide insight into critical agency measures and performance comparisons over time. It's graphical and very easy to use.

So does this mean that the 8.2 million residents of New York are part of the worlds most pervasive Performance Management system? I'm not sure but I really wish my city offered this type of insight.

Did you know that murder is down 18% in New York this year? The citizens of NY do.

Here a couple interesting links to the story.

Mayor Bloomberg Unveils Citywide Performance Reporting (CPR)

Frank Buytendijk Blog at Oracle

Tags: Business Intelligence, Performance Management, Oracle, Citywide Performance Reporting