Who Has the Data?
Most organizations like to assert that they are “fact-driven”. But the reality of mundane, everyday decision making doesn’t always match the rhetoric, and force of personality (or simply seniority!) often swings the debate. But information is still power. As SAP BusinessObjects marketing VP Franz Aman explained in a recent podcast with Jon Reed of JonERP.com “It’s stunning every single time when you get into a discussion, whether it’s... [Read More...]
The Very First Version of Xcelsius?
It turns out that dashboards like Xcelsius have their roots all the way back in 1939 — in cardboard, at least! (Click on the image to get a bigger version) Thanks to Modern Mechanix blog: “Yesterday’s Technology, Today!” Read More →
Using Business Intelligence to Catch Wasteful US Spending?
Until recently, if you wanted to find out where your US taxpayer money was going, the best you could do was this handy wall chart from the “Death & Taxes” web site. Click on the image below to go to their site, where you can zoom in and see different parts of the image. USA Spending.Gov USA Spending.Gov gives you access to the same information in the form of a public database. It’s the result of the 2006 Transparency Act which requires... [Read More...]
Giant Brains: Did Edmund Berkeley Predict Email, the Internet, ERP Systems and the iPhone in 1949?
Now that prediction season is coming to an end, it’s time to reflect on how technology always changes, but the underlying business needs remain the same from year to year, or even decade to decade. I recently stumbled across a second-hand book in the American Library in Paris titled "Giant Brains or Machines That Think" by Edmund C. Berkeley. Edmund Berkeley was an early computing pioneer, and the book includes a description of one of... [Read More...]
Data Governance? What’s That? (And How Can Companies Fix It?)
A recent survey of business and IT leaders carried out by Kalido shows that over two thirds of businesses have no clear data governance program, and have no plans to implement one — and 13% are unclear as to what data governance even is. The research also reveals that nobody knows who is supposed to be responsible for maintaining the accuracy of data. In 31% of the companies questioned, this role is held by the IT department – but IT organizations... [Read More...]
BusinessObjects is The Best Thing About SAP Business Suite 7?
As I’m sure everybody knows by now, SAP launched Business Suite 7 last week. There was a “let’s-wait-and-see” attitude in the coverage for some of the claims made for the new suite, but the inclusion of BusinessObjects analytics into the suite was almost unanimously declared a big part of its appeal: SAP Business Suite 7 – what’s new? “One aspect that does deserve attention is the inclusion of "select analytics capabilities... [Read More...]
Branding Your BI Solution: Everything Up to And Including Theme Music?
Branding and other forms of internal marketing are absolutely essential for successful BI projects — and it’s an area where the teams don’t often have a lot of expertise. Use whatever resources you have Sometimes implementation teams have access to internal resources for brochures and other materials – e.g. see the example below for an example of a brochure that was produced for a large French public sector BI project. Even... [Read More...]
It Would Have Been a Crime not to Include Analytics in This New Application
Today, SAP launched SAP Investigative Case Management for Public Sector, a new solution to support police and other investigating authorities in the efforts to prevent, detect and investigate crime. It’s a great example of the new SAP Business Suite 7 applications that integrate technology from the Business Objects acquisition, combining both operational and analytic expertise into a single solution. It’s not just the criminals that are calculating The... [Read More...]
Bad Decisions: Just Blame Evolution?
February 12th 2009 will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Robert Darwin. He researched, popularized, and will forever be associated with what is probably the biggest idea ever: Evolution. Despite the overwhelming evidence, there are still, sadly, many people who don’t believe in it. According to The Economist: "In the United States a Gallup poll conducted last year found that only 14% of people agreed with... [Read More...]
Good Advice for Bad Times?
Following the lead of Dave Kellogg (i.e. shamelessly copying), here’s a link to an excellent article on "Counter-Intuitive Tactics for Bad Times". The article is for high-tech industries looking to weather the crisis. I’ve copied Dave’s paraphrasing below, swapping his comments with mine, related to SAP BusinessObjects: Invest in product development, not sales. (BI is a big investment focus of SAP. We’re integrating... [Read More...]
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