Business Intelligence

Advice and opinion about the strategies, technologies and products that allow you to turn your enterprise data and knowledge into a powerful strategic weapon. Topics range from master data management strategies to CRM solutions.

The State of BI in 2010

Dave Higgins | Oct 19, 2010 1 Response

Oct 192010

It has been just over 50 years since preeminent IBM computer scientist Hans Peter Luhn coined the term “business intelligence.” And ever since then, BI has been viewed as getting information to the people who need it in a timely fashion and in a form that is easily consumed and acted upon (the right data to the right people at the right time). From those seemingly prehistoric days of data processing, when BI consisted primarily of monthly reports on green bar paper, to today’s splashy interactive graphics on wireless mobile devices, both the data that is available and the means with which to deliver it to the right people have changed dramatically. But have these …

New Developments Address Cloud Security and Regulatory Compliance

Curt Hall | Sep 15, 2010 No Responses

Sep 152010

Security and data privacy/regulatory considerations are two of the biggest bottlenecks standing in the way of more organizations adopting cloud computing. Simply put, many organizations have serious misgivings about using cloud computing — in particular, software as a service (SaaS) offerings — due to regulatory requirements prohibiting them from using the cloud for storing sensitive data, or due to concerns about the privacy and security of data residing in the cloud. Organizations have also gone to considerable lengths to put the systems and processes in place that enable them to enforce consistent access control policies for their enterprise applications. Thus, it is quite understandable that many organizations remain leery of the security capabilities for ensuring …

Accidents and Incidents on the Road to the Cloud?

Vince Kellen | Sep 7, 2010 No Responses

Sep 072010

Apple continues to make waves with the iPad and the iPhone. The iPad is probably already a US $2 billion line of business in a scant 80 days. Name another product that generated so much revenue so fast. I am finding how Apple pulled off that feat to be a more significant lesson in the design and engineering of a businesses than the glitz and splash of the iPad usability. Apple is adept at building business models perhaps more so than devices, at least for now. But I think we haven’t seen anything yet. All the competitors — such as Dell, HP, phone manufacturers, and others — that were caught with their pants down when …

Semantic Challenges Through the Looking Glass and in the Real World

Mitchell Ummel | Jun 29, 2010 1 Response

Jun 292010

Semantic Challenges Through the Looking Glass and in the Real World

In workshops on semantics, I’ve used the example of the conversation between Lewis Carroll’s White Knight and Alice in Through the Looking Glass, of which the subject is a reference to “a song.” As an illustration of the upcoming challenges of information semantics, in that conversation, we find (1) the name of the song, (2) what the name is called, (3) what the song is called, and (4) what the song actually is, to be all quite naturally, but somewhat surprisingly, different: Alice was walking beside the White Knight in Looking-Glass Land. “You are sad,” the Knight said in an anxious tone: “let me sing you a song to comfort you.” “Is it very long?” …

Drowning in Data? Strategic Analytics Throws a Lifeline

Curt Hall | Mar 9, 2010 7 Responses

Mar 092010

Data warehousing, BI, and analytics, in general, are undergoing profound changes resulting from the always-on business environment that is redefining organizational requirements pertaining to how data is collected, processed, and used. So much data is generated so quickly that it has sparked the advent of new — or, if you’re in an argumentative mood, at least revised — data management and data analysis technologies and practices, which are beginning to garner increasing attention by organizations seeking to take advantage of their huge data assets. I frequently talk to people whose organizations are drowning in data. Web data acquired from personalization, advertising, marketing, and other CRM activities is swamping many organizations. Contact and call center interactions …

Even more predictions

Anne Mullaney | Jan 5, 2010 2 Responses

Jan 052010

Over the last week we’ve received predictions from more Cutter Senior Consultants. Here’s a preview of the latest additions: Rebecca Herold: Bigger privacy breaches than any that have occurred so far on social media sites will occur as a result of no information security or privacy pre-planning at many to most of these organizations. James Odell: systems will no longer primarily be top down. Instead, as individuals, small groups, and organizations interact around the world, technology must support approaches that are more side-by-side. Rob Austin: 2010 will be the year in which mobile devices become the client device of choice in many enterprises. Jim Highsmith: A small, but significant, number of organizations will “get it” when …

Cutter Experts Predict Trends for 2010 and Beyond

Anne Mullaney | Dec 23, 2009 2 Responses

Dec 232009

With the new year upon us, we asked Cutter’s Senior Consultants and Fellows for their business technology predictions. Their perspectives — as always — are quite thoughtful, thought-provoking, and varied. Projections cover the changing role of the CIO, what will happen in enterprise architecture, the increasing adoption of agile, the explosion of cloud computing, the impact of green initiatives, and more. We’re posting all the predictions on the Cutter website as they come in. Here are some excerpts: Israel Gat: I expect 2010 to be the first year of a prolonged golden age. San Murugesan: In 2010 and beyond, we will see growing interest and major developments in cloud computing, green IT, and mobile systems …

The Rise of the Semantic Enterprise: September Cutter IT Journal

Mitchell Ummel | Sep 25, 2009 No Responses

Sep 252009

Nearly six months ago, the subject for this month’s Cutter IT Journal was conceived, and I was flattered to be invited to serve as the guest editor. Through the collective volunteer efforts (involving thousands of hours) by seven outstanding contributing authors, the set of cutting edge opinion, entitled “The Rise of the Semantic Enterprise”, has now been born. A few quick excerpts follow: “By exploiting the technologies of the Semantic Web, a semantic enterprise can create a people-machine continuum that enhances business agility”. “The emerging Semantic Web will require us to dramatically rethink traditional notions of how business, data/information, application, and technology architectures are conceptualized and realized within an enterprise.” “If CIOs are serious about …

A Peek Behind The Curtain of Wolfram|Alpha

Mitchell Ummel | May 14, 2009 No Responses

May 142009

Wolfram|Alpha is described as having four key components: An ever-growing repository of underlying curated data piped in and stored on Wolfram Research systems, complementing the existing computable data stores already available through Mathematica. 5-6M lines of computational code repurposed from the Mathematica software kernel Rudimentary natural language processing (NLP) capability, which is optimized for this specific domain, and mapped into the underlying computational pattern language Automated presentation of results in the most useful way, using text, graphics, and sound, for the context of the submitted inquiry. Relating Wolfram|Alpha to the Semantic Web As a researcher interested in all things related to the Semantic Web, I wanted to find out more about if, or how, Wolfram|Alpha …

Taking Wolfram|Alpha for a Spin (Another Preview)

Mitchell Ummel | May 13, 2009 No Responses

May 132009

Earlier this month, via web conference, I had the privilege of participating in a live demo of the pre-release Wolfram|Alpha, presented in person by Mr. Wolfram, and had the opportunity to ask questions during the call. Subsequently, I received an invitation-only access to use the Wolfram|Alpha test application. The following is based on my notes during the presentation, as well as my own experiences test-driving Wolfram|Alpha. As he started the call, Mr. Wolfram boldly exposed his ambition and the vision driving the Wolfram|Alpha project. To paraphrase (I took detailed notes!), he stated that this work will provide us the capability to take all the knowledge that exists in the world, and allow us to compute …

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