SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI Directions
Here’s a video from this years SAPPHIRE NOW in Madrid, featuring Mimi Speir, Steve Lucas, and Andrew Murray giving an overview of SAP BusinessObjects mobile directions: Highlights include: New SAP BusinessObjects experience mobile application, based on the Exploration Views functionality from the BusinessObjects innovation center, with demo data from Experience.SAP.com Easily take a mobile analysis and create a StreamWork activity for collaborative... [Read More...]
At-a-Glance Guide to Analytics at SAPPHIRE NOW Madrid
I’ll be an official “social ambassador” for analytics at SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid next week. This blog attempts to summarize the main analytics-related activities during the two days of SAPPHIRE NOW – but note that this year, SAPPHIRE NOW attendees also have access to all SAP TechEd sessions that are going on at the same time, making it even harder than usual to choose from the dizzying array of possible sessions (the SAP TechEd sessions... [Read More...]
SAP BusinessObjects User Conference 2011: Opening Keynote
It’s a stormy and sunny day here in Orlando, Florida, for the 2011 ASUG SAP BusinessObjects User Conference in the Dolphin Hotel (ASUG members and conference attendees can see videos and download conference materials at http://www.asugonline.com/) Bridgette Chambers, CEO of the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) (@bchambersASUG on Twitter), kicked things to the packed room off by reminiscing about how much relations have improved... [Read More...]
SAPSA Impuls 2011 in Stockholm
I presented yesterday at the SAP Sweden user conference “Impuls” at the green-foliage-decor Stockholmsmässan. Per Högberg of the SAPSA Board kicked things off with a welcome speech. José Duarte of SAP gave an overview of the key SAP directions: Michel Putnik of Microsoft and Jo Weilbach of SAP gave an overview of the Microsoft/SAP partnership, and key directions with the updated and improved Duet software. I gave a short keynote... [Read More...]
Business People Are Dumb On Average(s)
Here’s one real-life example of the limits in quantitative thinking observed in an average company, shared with me by Michael Thompson. He recently worked with Dan Rosenberg’s UX team on a SAP research project that isolated over 100 distinct, real-life uses of business analytics across dozens of roles and business functions. A retail analyst was attempting to figure out the success of product promotions on the “sales” page of a web site.... [Read More...]
Hadoop, Big Data, and Enterprise Business Intelligence
Many thanks to William Gardella and others for the content below: Traditional enterprise data warehousing and Hadoop/Big Data are like apples and oranges – the well-known and trusted approach being challenged by a zesty newcomer (sweet oranges were introduced to Europe sometime in the 16th century). Is there room for both? How will these two very different approaches co-exist? This post is an attempt to summarize the current state of play with... [Read More...]
Strategic Workforce Planning Demo
Launched late last year, SAP BusinessObjects Strategic Workforce Planning was the first HANA-enabled application – one of a new generation of analytic apps that use in-memory processing for fast processing and interactive simulation. A demonstration is now available showing some of the key features: For more information, see the product page, the brochure, or read more about the need for workforce planning in this post by Henner Schliebs, Director... [Read More...]
Carbon Footprint Analysis Leads to Concrete Savings: Walkers Crisps
I’ll confess upfront that I’ve always been slightly dubious about the assertion that “sustainability is about making money”. After all, if it’s about making money, it’s something that companies should be doing anyway – it’s only when there’s a tradeoff between sustainability and money that there’s room for interesting debate about to what extent it should be one of the goals of the organization. However, as Diversey’s CEO Curt... [Read More...]
SAP World Tour Slovenia
I recently had the honor of presenting the keynote for the SAP World Tour in Slovenia (in Brdo, one of Tito’s old hunting estates, near Ljubljana). The event was kicked off by the SAP country manager, Simon Kaluža. I covered the standard “Run Better” keynote slides, but at the request of the organizers, included some extra analytics material and examples. My presentation can be downloaded in Adobe PDF or Microsoft PowerPoint format. This... [Read More...]
Business Analytics in Poland
It was the SAP World Tour in Sopot, Poland last week, and I had the honor of presenting a keynote session on business analytics. The three-day event kicked off with a evening on a tall ship in nearby Gdynia, with traditional nautical music and evening entertainment including hitting a large nail into a stump of wood(?!). The opening “run better” presentation was done as a panel discussion with Grzegorz Rogali?ski, the SAP country manager, and... [Read More...]

I was the eighth employee of