More BI, Less BS
Check out our new video, More BI, Less BS.
Give us two minutes and you’ll see how Balanced Insight Consensus helps you overcome core BI challenges and generate big returns from big investments in BI through better communication, effective collaboration and the elimination of costly rework.
New Study Finds Broad “Insight Gap”
An intriguing new study highlights the need for “big judgment in an era of big data.” The reason?
only about half of senior managers are capable of putting data to good use in shaping company strategy. Half of those polled in the report, which was based on a survey of 5,000 employees at 22 global companies, say information is in a format they can’t use, and two-thirds say they spend time on unproductive analysis.
While the study isn’t specifically addressing BI, it could be. And certainly this sounds like a problem that business intelligence – and Agile BI in particular – is well suited to solve. read more…
An Analogy for BI
We believe communication and collaboration with business users are powerful enablers of BI success, but, as Raphael Klebanov of WhereScape USA pointed out last week, there can be many challenges. For instance, many business users have had only limited exposure to BI and thus may lack a full understanding of its core principles. Therefore, it’s good to have an analogy for explaining BI in general – and Agile BI delivery in particular – in the early stages of engagement with users. read more…
This Q&A with Raphael Klebanov highlights the state of BI today. Part 1 highlights the current state of BI. You can see his previous guest post here.
Raphael Klebanov is a Lead Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence specialist at WhereScape, Inc. He has more than 15 years of BI experience and expertise in all phases of the delivery lifecycle, from requirements discovery, through design and development, to successful deployment and rollout. A Professional Scrum Master and Certified Data Vault Modeler, Raphael continuously seeks ways to refine and optimize BI delivery.
Balanced Insight: How does WhereScape® help automate data warehousing projects?
Raphael Klebanov: Both of our products – RED and 3D – allow users to leverage WhereScape® Metadata repositories for all models, transactional code, audit and workflow components and documentation to remove many of the tedious aspects of building data warehouse (DW) and BI projects. In other words, WhereScape® RED automates the entire DW life cycle from design and building, through coding, implementation and scheduling, to maintenance, documentation and ongoing improvement. All the objects and processes are encapsulated in the database, making it independent from third-party tools. You also don’t need to engage the specialized skills of expensive contractors. read more…
This Q&A with Raphael Klebanov highlights the state of BI today. Part 2 highlights the unique advantages of WhereScape RED and Balanced Insight Consensus. You can see his previous guest post here.
Raphael Klebanov is a Lead Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence specialist at WhereScape, Inc. He has more than 15 years of BI experience and expertise in all phases of the delivery lifecycle, from requirements discovery, through design and development, to successful deployment and rollout. A Professional Scrum Master and Certified Data Vault Modeler, Raphael continuously seeks ways to refine and optimize BI delivery.
Balanced Insight: Why is Agile development so important to BI projects today?
Raphael Klebanov: The main concepts of the Agile development methodology are increasingly important these days because they address specific business intelligence trends and challenges. For example, the huge amount of data available today – both structured and unstructured – requires a “divide and conquer” approach to data warehouse and BI projects as well as engaging across the functions and departments of organizations. read more…
Balanced Insight Consensus & HP
A new white paper from HP – Value Accelerators for HP Enterprise Information Solutions – highlights how the world’s largest technology company uses Balanced Insight Consensus to speed development and implementation for its healthcare clients. We hate to brag, but here’s a sample:
HP uses Balanced Insight Consensus, an agile business intelligence delivery tool, to shave months off BI development schedules, while creating more nimble, adaptable BI environments for our customers.
You can read the full white paper here.
Paralysis vs. Agility
This recent article in the TDWI newsletter reminds us of many of the reasons we believe in Agile BI. The main thesis is that business intelligence pros shouldn’t aim for perfection in delivering toolsets and data to business users.
Instead, we must strive for agility and create an environment that allows our users to receive timely, relevant information.
In other words, successful BI enables agility in business decision making, and agility should start with the BI team itself. For example, BI development projects should not be delayed due to “paralysis by analysis” – that is, endless requirements gathering and excessive planning. read more…
IT Takes Back Seat to Users
I have been meaning to comment on an interesting study conducted by a long-time BI practitioner:
The majority of business intelligence projects implemented and deployed in the past two years were done outside of the IT department, according to a report by Howard Dresner, of Dresner Advisory Services. The former Gartner “Research Fellow” and father of the term business intelligence says only 49% of these new projects were done under the auspices of the IT department. Finance, sales and marketing, HR and other departments are now in charge.
We’re not surprised by these findings, but we don’t think this is equivalent to inmates running the asylum, as Mr. Dresner claims. In fact, we are fans of business-centric BI and development methodologies that rely on frequent and meaningful input from users. That’s the way to ensure BI apps answer real business questions and are embraced by end-users. Therefore, we see as a good thing the trend toward greater user and business involvement in BI projects. read more…
Brad Pitt: The Ultimate BI Hero?
Statistics-minded baseball fans are naturally excited about the pending release of the movie version of Moneyball , adapted from the Michael Lewis book about how the low-budget Oakland A’s used superior data gathering and analysis to compete against their much wealthier rivals. From 2000-2006, the team made the playoff five times, despite having one of the lowest payrolls in Major League Baseball. Because of its success, the Moneyball approach to player evaluation and team management has been embraced by many other franchises.
A movie about “baseball BI” (and one starring Brad Pitt, no less!) and the huge buzz around IBM’s Watson on Jeopardy a few months ago (which we discussed here and here) suggests that BI and analytics are having their pop culture moment. But if this is to be more than 15 minutes of fame, BI practitioners might recognize a few lessons from Moneyball and see the opportunities for their own companies. read more…
BI Buzz: What Practitioners Are Saying
You can tell a lot about an industry by what its practitioners say about it when speaking among themselves. Business intelligence is no exception of course. This post by an industry watcher strikes us as relevant and revealing in terms of how much and how fast the conventional wisdom about BI’s role is changing. The big idea, captured in a word cloud, is that “BI is a tool” and its core purpose should be to be produce value for the business by delivering insights that can be used to make better decisions and improve business performance. read more…
