Podcast: Using Semantics to Make More Sense of BI
June 29, 2009
Semantics is the science of deciphering documents in a context-aware fashion. J. Brooke Aker, the CEO of Expert System’s U.S. subsidiary, tells The IT-Finance Connection that combining highly sophisticated semantic technology with business intelligence turns a far higher percentage of the mountains of data a company collects–and is available independently on the Web–into actionable intelligence. (Podcast time: 27:06)
Archer’s Walter: Platforms Trump Point Products
June 22, 2009
In a podcast, David Walter–Archer Technologies’ Director of GRC Product Development–tells The IT-Finance Connection that CIOs and CFOs are more open than ever to the idea that a comprehensive framework instead of a set of discreet products will reduce costs and increase the value of the data an organization collects. (Podcast time: 22:28)
Podcast: Clear Peak’s Strategy is to Start With Targeted Projects
June 15, 2009
The best way to use BI to meet the related challenges of increasing revenue and cutting costs isn’t to march in and implement a comprehensive project, says Clear Peak Senior Partner and Founder Brad Cowdrey. Instead, the company advocates a targeted, incremental approach that generates immediate gains and drives corporate acceptance. (Podcast time: 21:37)
LucidEra’s Rudin: Analytics Brings Science to the Art of the Sale
May 20, 2009
Closely examining trends, patterns and historical performance is a valuable adjunct to the “gut” level feelings that many sales staffs use to assess their progress. LucidEra co-founder and CMO Ken Rudin tells The IT-Finance Connection that it’s more a matter of science helping art than one replacing the other. The keys for sales analytics, Rudin says, are the three “Ps:” Pipeline, people and process.
As it Grows, CPM–a Process, Not a Technology–Increasingly Relies on BI Tools
April 27, 2009
Sarah Burnett, a Senior Research Analyst with the Butler Group, sees an increasing connection between BI and the management of corporate performance and risk. Burnett – who just wrote a expansive report examining BI/CPM issues – tells The IT-Finance Connection that the drivers of CPM will continue to increase and that savvy companies perceive it as a businesses initiative, not as a technology.
Podcast: The Converging Worlds of BI and SaaS
April 7, 2009
The strengths of software-as-a-service and platforms-as-a-service make them a good fit for business intelligence applications, says Jeff Kaplan, the Principal Analyst for THINKstrategies. In a podcast, Kaplan tells The IT-Finance Connection that SaaS/PaaS enable easier deployments and are especially helpful as businesses become increasingly dispersed and mobile.
Podcast: Big BI Vendors Facing Big Challenges
March 23, 2009
Vendors in the business intelligence industry face significant challenges, says Nigel Pendse, the 
author of The BI Survey. Pendse, who just released the eighth version of the survey, tells The IT-Finance Connection in a podcast that the big companies–which often are pieced together composites of several acquisitions–are not adequately supporting customers and offer products that are inferior to niche vendors.
Podcast: The Hard Stuff and Beyond
March 2, 2009
BI supports decisions through analytics that monitor and predict performance. The best decisions, of course, rely just as much on the judgment of the professionals who make them. Decyde’s Ray Gilbert and Kelly Hagen tell The IT-Finance Connection that BI can elicit the best professional judgment by systematically enhancing transparency and consistency — and including estimates of acceptable and plausible risks.
Five Minutes of News: Vertica’s Analytic Database Gets Virtualized, VMware Style
February 25, 2009
David Menninger, Vertica’s Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, tells The IT-Finance Connection that its Virtualized Analytic Database enables organizations to seamlessly expand operations, pool hardware resources and reduce labor costs.
Podcast: Aberdeen Finds that Agility is the Top Budgeting Priority for Best-in-Class Companies
February 23, 2009
The uncertainty and volatility of today’s market led Aberdeen Group analysts David Hatch and Cindy Jutras to 
research what companies see as the top priority as they put their budgets together. They found that best-in-class businesses feel that the ability to adjust quickly as market conditions shift has eclipsed last year’s top concern, which was accuracy.
Around the Net: October 5 to 9
Big IPOs Due this Week from Verisk and Santander: Read More at Market Watch…
Banks Building Business Intelligence: Read More at eFinancial Careers…
Heavy Lifting: Read More at Information Management…
Finding Your Niche in On-Demand BI: Read More at IT World Canada…
British Telecom Picks Jaspersoft for Analytics: Read More at CNET…
E-Medical Data valuable to Healthcare Industry: Read More at InformationWeek…
Pervasive Business Intelligence: Read More at PC Quest…
--Carl Weinschenk
