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April 21, 2008
STRAIGHT TALK: Simple business intelligence?
Is there such a thing? When I look at all of the things we have to do with data, everything we have to do with infrastructure, and everything we have to do with the people and organizations who work with information, I have a hard time believing simple.
Think about it. What do we do with data? Acquire, cleanse, transform, load, update, model, store, manage, optimize, protect, report, analyze, search, mine, archive, query, retrieve, document, dispose.
What do we do with infrastructure? Configure, tune, test, optimize, deploy, tune again, protect, secure, scale, manage, refresh, repurpose, recycle, dispose.
What about all of the people who deal with data? Data modelers, data architects, data warehouse managers, systems administrators, database administrators, storage administrators, business analysts, data analysts, business managers, customers, suppliers, buyers, and everyone else who uses intelligence in any way to use do their job. The list goes on…
I do think there are ways to simplify the complex world of business intelligence, but I don’t think there is really such a thing as “simple business intelligence.” It does make sense to learn from those who have long term experience in the BI. It does make sense to look at ways of simplifying BI using appliances, accelerators, and cookbooks. It does make sense to look for new technologies that integrate the diverse components of BI (metadata management, master data management, etc.). But in the end, the only thing simple about business intelligence is the spelling of BI.
Posted by John Santaferraro at 8:27 PM | Comments (0)
STRAIGHT TALK: Simple business intelligence?
Is there such a thing? When I look at all of the things we have to do with data, everything we have to do with infrastructure, and everything we have to do with the people and organizations who work with information, I have a hard time believing simple.
Think about it. What do we do with data? Acquire, cleanse, transform, load, update, model, store, manage, optimize, protect, report, analyze, search, mine, archive, query, retrieve, document, dispose.
What do we do with infrastructure? Configure, tune, test, optimize, deploy, tune again, protect, secure, scale, manage, refresh, repurpose, recycle, dispose.
What about all of the people who deal with data? Data modelers, data architects, data warehouse managers, systems administrators, database administrators, storage administrators, business analysts, data analysts, business managers, customers, suppliers, buyers, and everyone else who uses intelligence in any way to use do their job. The list goes on…
I do think there are ways to simplify the complex world of business intelligence, but I don’t think there is really such a thing as “simple business intelligence.” It does make sense to learn from those who have long term experience in the BI. It does make sense to look at ways of simplifying BI using appliances, accelerators, and cookbooks. It does make sense to look for new technologies that integrate the diverse components of BI (metadata management, master data management, etc.). But in the end, the only thing simple about business intelligence is the spelling of BI.
Posted by John Santaferraro at 4:27 PM | Comments (0)
April 9, 2008
From operations to intelligence and back again
Almost every business I know would come to a screeching halt if we removed their operational business systems. Many would be out of business in a matter of days. When we make the move to operational business intelligence, the same thing will be true of business intelligence systems. In a world where intelligence is being provided to every customer or supplier touch point, and analytics are embedded in business processes throughout the organization, BI becomes mission critical. We are not far away from the day when companies will need to protect their business intelligence systems the same way they protect their operational business systems. Suddenly infrastructure matters, uptime is critical, and downtime can mean the downfall of the business.
Posted by John Santaferraro at 8:22 PM | Comments (0)
From operations to intelligence and back again
Almost every business I know would come to a screeching halt if we removed their operational business systems. Many would be out of business in a matter of days. When we make the move to operational business intelligence, the same thing will be true of business intelligence systems. In a world where intelligence is being provided to every customer or supplier touch point, and analytics are embedded in business processes throughout the organization, BI becomes mission critical. We are not far away from the day when companies will need to protect their business intelligence systems the same way they protect their operational business systems. Suddenly infrastructure matters, uptime is critical, and downtime can mean the downfall of the business.
Posted by John Santaferraro at 4:22 PM | Comments (0)
