Posted by Noel Shannon on Fri, Feb 08, 2013 @ 10:54 AM
All this talk about 'Big Data' - well it's not much use if you cant get any value out of it. That's why we are directing significant resources towards building a new breed of Apps that will work out-of-the-box so that you can get immediate value from this 'Big Data' Check out our 'Profitability App' which makes it so easy to find out if you are making a profit. 'We already know that!'' I hear you say - Yes but do you know what areas of your business are the most profitable? The least profitable? The products or customers that are trending down over the recent weeks or months compared to last year? Hmm - not so easy when you have 'Big Data'. See this news release from GoodData and check out our Apps by clicking here
San Francisco, Calif. — February 7, 2013. Today, GoodData® announced that its partners are now able to build, promote and sell their own customized Bashes™ from the GoodData BashMarketplace™. The GoodData BashMarketplace is a library of pre-built business analytics mashups called GoodData Bashes. Partners and customers can create and access Bashes from this ecosystem to address their specific business needs.
With this announcement, consulting firms, systems integrators and solution providers have access to GoodData’s resources and ecosystem reach to add significant data driven revenue to their businesses.
Bashes, built on GoodData’s leading Big Data Monetization platform, include integrations, reports, analytics, key performance indicators and best practices rolled into a visually stunning user experience. GoodData Bashes allow any business person, in any size company, to collect and process data from multiple sources, turning it into meaningful insights that they can act on, from any device.
“Our partners can now monetize their domain expertise through a combination of Bashes and GoodData services,” said Cody Crnkovich, Vice President of Channels and Alliances at GoodData. “Leveraging GoodData’s unique solution provider program, consultancies and VARs have a significant opportunity to create new recurring revenue from big data based around their core competencies on our industry-leading platform.”
The GoodData partner Bash and professional services revenue increased four times in the second half of 2012. Many leading cloud solution providers are building GoodData Bashes, including ACR Analytics, Alternative Technology Solutions, Bitbang, Bluewolf, Covali, DemandGen, EmeraldCube, Keboola, Levementum, LyntonWeb,Samuraiz, Strategy Lab and Zero One Consulting.
Covali Sales & Profitability Bash
Covali is a highly experienced consulting firm specializing in providing integrated and advanced reporting and business intelligence (BI) solutions. Through this partnership, enterprises will now have the ability to analyze data from their Microsoft, Sage or MySql ERP systems. Covali is first to market with a Bash that integrates cloud BI technology with onsite data systems. The initial business applications will focus on sales and margins, customer value, supplier performance and financial performance.
“We are excited to become a preferred delivery partner for GoodData,” said Noel Shannon, CEO of Covali. “This partnership will enable us to utilize our key strengths and deep web analytics knowledge to give customers a unique level of meaningful insight into their data. We will work hard to uphold the GoodData standard and are honored to be an extension of their delivery team.”
Samuraiz Business Performance Monitoring Bash
Samuraiz Coporation is a software, middleware and cloud service distributor providing total support in marketing, sales and service for global advanced IT vendors and serving enterprise customers in Japan. Samuraiz provides advanced software, middleware and cloud services to reinforce business strategy of Japanese companies.
“We believe that the evolving Bash ecosystem powered by GoodData in Japan accelerates the business of many Japanese companies and brings enormous benefit to them,” said Ritaro Tani, President of Samuraiz. “As our first step of introducing GoodData to the Japanese market, we are developing a business performance monitoring Bash especially for Salesforce.com users in Japan. We are going to add further benefits through mashups of Webtrends’ analytics data, Compuware Gomez’s user experience data and Japanese social analytics data to Samuraiz solutions powered by GoodData.”
Zero One Digital Media Bash
ZeroOne helps companies improve communications, streamline processes, and develop new revenue channels with strategy, design and cloud technology. By collaborating with GoodData, Zero One is able to offer digital media clients data driven insights into their customer quality, content efficiency and audience profiles.
“In new media, it is critical to identify, obtain, and retain deep customer relationships that drive recurring revenue,” said John Miller, Principal at Zero One Consulting. “The problem is that you need more than Google Analytics to do this. Our Media Bash provides immediate, actionable insights. We are very excited to team with GoodData on this innovative offering.”
Levementum xRM Bash
Levementum is a leading Cloud Solutions Provider, with a focus on helping organizations run business applications like messaging, collaboration, CRM and analytics in the cloud. By developing hybrid cloud solutions upon industry leading platforms, such as Salesforce.com, GoodData, SugarCRM and Magento, Levementum helps customers leverage the power of the cloud for their businesses. Levementum’s advanced relationship management analytics solutions powered by GoodData extend the value of CRM and Commerce solutions by providing measurable insights that optimize activity and enable smart data driven decisions.
“The power of GoodData to gather data from cloud applications, the web and other social outlets to provide businesses with real-time insight into business performance and customer behavior adds to the value of the CRM and Commerce solutions Levementum provides to our clients,” said Doug Guilbeau, Managing Partner and EVP Operations at Levementum. “This combination of intelligence will allow businesses to make better decisions for measurable results.”
DemandGen Demand Analytics Bash
DemandGen International is a global consulting firm helping progressive companies leverage marketing automation and CRM systems including Eloqua, Marketo and Salesforce. DemandGen has built a solid reputation as the trusted advisor to the world’s leading marketing and sales teams for their vast expertise in building award-winning lead management systems. Their passion for helping clients measure marketing’s success led the company to develop a Demand Analytics Bash powered by GoodData. The Marketing Performance Management Dashboard™ provides insight into marketing’s contribution to pipeline and revenue.
“Our goal was to find this proverbial ‘Holy Grail’ for Marketing, and GoodData allowed us to build it,” said David Lewis, Founder and CEO at DemandGen International. “We believe our clients need to show how Marketing activities and results tie to the strategic objectives of the business. Our GoodData Bash is a game changer for providing executives with a clear picture of Marketing’s value and contribution.”
About GoodData
GoodData provides a cloud-based platform and apps that enable more than 8,000 global businesses to monetize big data. GoodData is headquartered in San Francisco and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Fidelity Growth Partners, Next World Capital, Tenaya Capital and Windcrest Partners. For more information, read our blog, visit our website and follow @gooddata on Twitter.
©2013 GoodData Corporation. All rights reserved. GoodData, Bash, GoodBash, GoodSales Bash, GoodSuccess Bash, GoodMarketing Bash, GoodSubscription Bash, BashMarketplace, and others are trademarks of GoodData Corporation in the United States and other jurisdictions. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Posted by Noel Shannon on Thu, Feb 07, 2013 @ 05:02 AM
Information technology has dramatically improved the way organisations process their data and most have seen the benefits that are derived from implementing transaction processing systems to improve everyday operations. A large percentage of employees in any organisation use information technology as part and parcel of their job. In Retail - Point of Sale transactions are captured and processed to drive Inventory Management systems to optimise Purchasing and avoid over supply or shortages. In Distribution, Fleet Management systems are used to optimise deliveries and ensure customer fulfilment. Personnel Systems ensure that we track the careers, training and management of our employees and in Professional Services we use Project Management Systems to ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget. These are but a few examples of the areas of business that have been improved through the use of Information Technology in the last couple of decades.
But when it comes to sytems for the key people in an organisation - the senior executives and managers - we find that very little has been done in the same period of time. And it is extraordinary that the people who make the most important decisions in an organisation often do so based on very little information - or worse, maybe a hunch!
Other than email, word processing and sometimes spreadsheets, most senior executives in an organisation do not use very much technology at all. Decisions are often made based on verbal reports or submissions from other senior and junior executives. In many cases data is gathered togeteher from various systems and copied or pasted into spreadsheets for further manipulation before being again copied or pasted into Powerpoint or the like, for final presentation before crucial decisions are made. And we are all aware of the potential dangers that are associated with this approach - there has long been ample evidence that errors in spreadsheets are pandemic. Spreadsheets, even after careful development, contain errors in one percent or more of all formula cells. In large spreadsheets with thousands of formulas, there will be dozens of undetected errors. Even significant errors may go undetected because formal testing in spreadsheet development is rare and because even serious errors may not be apparent. Despite this many organisations rely on the spreadsheet for their reporting and decision making.
The main problem that is coming down the track is that not only are spreadsheets prone to error but they cannot cope with 'Big Data' - and this trend is just beginning!
Data production will be 44 times greater in 2020 than it was in 2009. Experts are predicting a 4300% increase in data production by 2020 and that this is driven a) by the switch from analog to digital technology and b) by the rapid increase in the production of data by individuals and corporates alike. But even though more than 70% of the digital universe will be produced by individuals - it is the enterprise that will have responsibility for the storage, management and protection of it, and for the ability to analyse it's content.
So if you want to analyse data you really need to think about using an alternative to the spreadsheet for your executives and information managers. And while you are at it why not use something that is of value to the senior management and decision makers and not just the data providers?
So what are the options out there? Business Intelligence solutions have tried to provide answers to these issues for some time now, with varying degrees of success. The reasons they have not been embraced completely so far is because they have often been too expensive, taken too long to implement and have been too difficult to use without extensive training.
This is all changing due to the introduction of new platforms from global players like QlikView and, more recently, GoodData - which allow software companies build out-of-the-box applications which can be rapidly implemented and at a low cost. One such company is Covali - formerly known as QlikPower, they have been building Business Intelligence Solutions for years now and have releaed a series of BI Apps which can be deployed on site or in the cloud on a subscription basis.
One of their first Apps is a Profitability App. It is probably true to say that most executives and decision makers in a business are fully engaged in improving the profitability of their organisation and this App allows you to see what is going on in your business. It is so easy to load your data so that you can see at a glance the most important indicators in your business. You can see trends over time and compare the sales performance of your salespeople and look at the profitability of your products when compared with their unit sales and margin. And this will empower you to make better decisions with all the data you need - no matter how big it is! You can also build your own reports, simply and easily and without the need to go on a training course. Covali are offering a Free Trial or a Demo of their product solutions so click here to have a look - it will improve the way you make decisions!
Posted by Noel Shannon on Tue, Feb 05, 2013 @ 10:35 AM
At Covali we like to examine how Business Intelligence can impact our daily lives. One example occurred to me while watching a recent television show which examined the relationship between gambling and Risk Intelligence. It showed how gambling as an activity has really exploded amongst ordinary people over the last decade. The availability of iphone, smartphone and tablet apps for gambling means that most people are now effectively carrying a 'bookie in your pocket'. The programme showed how it is no longer an underground or hidden activity where once gamblers were regarded as social outcasts oand people to be avoided at all times.
It is now mainstream, and respectable for everyone to be a punter. Companies like Paddy Power have also grown accordingly and are now run more like an Insurance company measuring risk with sophisticated analytics and the latest in software tools for marketing and product promotion. Medical evidence shows that the brain releases certain chemicals which give a 'rush' to the gambler thus ensuring that the experience is a pleasurable one - even when we lose.
So the programme asked - Is there a gambling gene? and it looked specifically at the way gambling has so dramatically grown in Ireland over the last 10 years even though we have been in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in our history.
Dylan Evans, a Risk Intelligence expert pointed out that the Irish have always been 'Risk Takers', that we love horses and the gambler. We admire someone who wins easily - and so he expects that gambling will continue to show dramatic growth since there is still only 9% of it done on-line. Other examples of gambling growth is the National Lottery and Scratch cards, which are everywhere.
He concludes that the Irish love risk, rather than being risk averse, and that the gambler is more likely to make a decsion based upon emotion rather than logic, that the brain takes greater pleasure from the risk/reward pathway which produces a feeling of euphoria. This is not always the correct strategy however if we wish to be successful gamblers.
To be a successful gambler we need to have the necessary Risk Intelligence to do it properly. Research shows that 'Risk' is seen as 'Emotional' or Gut Feel rather than logical, but the best gamblers have the best information. 'Risk is one thing' he says 'but Risk Intelligence gives you the ability to make good intelligent guesses.
The best gamblers are not necessarily the most intelligent but they are always 'smart'. But more importantly - they have the best information. A high IQ does not always lead to the best decsion, but knowledge is everything if you want to take on the bookies.
So, coming from a Business Intelligence background - can we learn any lessons from this?
Well I think the most important lesson is the last one - Information is Everything - and the best information leads to the best decision! And is'nt that what we have been talking about for years - gain insight into your data, drill-down, find hidden relationships, get the latest performance figures at your fingertips, use the knowledge that is hidden in your own data to make better decsions. This is the best way you can beat your competitors with better decsion making.
Risk Intelligence is a relatively new term and has been defined by the person who coined the term in 2006 as ''the capacity to learn about risk from experience'' Dylan Evans, mentioned above - defines it as "a special kind of intelligence for thinking about risk and uncertainty", at the core of which is the ability to estimate probabilities accurately. But however you define it the common ground between it and Business Intelligence is the ability to make better decisions if you have better information.
To see our latest Business Intelligence solutions - click here
Posted by Noel Shannon on Mon, Mar 07, 2011 @ 09:06 AM
The role of the CFO has undergone significant and dramatic change in the last decade. In the most recent business cycle, growth and economic optimism have been replaced by retrenchment. Regulatory requirements are changing in industries like financial services, health care, and energy. CFOs are tasked with providing strategic business advice and guidance to the CEO, improving the organization’s controls to comply with regulations, and ensuring the cost efficiency of the finance and accounting function.
To accomplish this, today’s CFO needs access to data that lives in different platforms across the organization―and to be able to analyze this data from top to bottom, at a very granular level, at the speed of thought. This is how they can connect dots that may first seem unrelated, and answer “unknown” questions―thereby addressing major strategic issues that can influence the organization’s long-term future.
During QlikTech’s all-hands summit in Orlando in January, a panel of QlikView customers talked about what QlikView can do for CFOs. One of the main themes that emerged from that discussion is this: QlikView can help CFOs serve as strategic advisors to the rest of their organizations. How? By delivering an associative experience that enables them to connect previously disconnected dots. They can then use this insight to provide strategic guidance to other parts of the business. (For more info on the associative experience see this QlikView Technology White Paper.)
Here are a few examples:
- Evaluating complex investment opportunities. Imagine a manufacturing plant manager putting in a request to buy more machines because the factory seems to be running at full capacity. By combining plant data with human resources data, the CFO can help the plant manager see that the plant is not currently staffed in an optimal way. Perhaps the plant could be more efficient with the machines it currently has by changing the shifts people work or the order in which they manufacture parts. Or the CFO could lead a discussion about which parts of the country are optimal for expanding growth and building new facilities by combining data from internal and finance and manufacturing systems with data from external sources like regional economic growth trends and real estate and labor statistics in one interactive analytical application.
- Seeing the big picture and illuminating discrepancies. Think of a human resources application used to analyze the structure of the organization, assess human resources needs, and simulate payroll scenarios. The information needed for this type of analysis typically resides in multiple back-end systems: payroll, finance, eLearning, etc.―and sometimes more than one of each type of system. By bringing the relevant data from all these systems in memory with QlikView, the CFO utilizes the associative experience to illuminate discrepancies. For example: what is an employee? Does that mean someone who is on board as of the end of the month? Or as of their start date? In another example, consider a scenario in which one organization has acquired another and is trying to reconcile the definition of “western Europe.” The parent company may include Greece and the Scandinavian countries while the acquired company may not. This matters significantly for revenue reporting and profit and loss accounting. These discrepancies become fully visible when data from both the acquired company and the acquirer are brought together in a single visualization.
By bringing together data from multiple sources into one analytical application, QlikView helps the CFO connect dots that may have seemed unrelated. The CFO can click on any data point anywhere in the data set and QlikView instantaneously filters all the other data around that selection. He can immediately see what’s related to that selection―and what’s not related. In the above examples, the CFO might select January in the “hired month” field and see that employees are included (highlighted in white) that have actual hire dates in December. Or he selects “western Europe” in the sales region field and sees that for some products Greece and Norway are excluded (highlighted in gray) while for other products these countries are included. The associative experience, in combination with speed-of-thought analysis, make QlikView an optimal tool for CFOs.
Thanks to QlikTech technical advisor Elif Tutuk and product manager Arthur Lee for their contributions to this article!
Posted by Noel Shannon on Mon, Nov 22, 2010 @ 09:11 AM
Business Intelligence emerged twenty years ago as a tool for aiding decision-making. Originally seen as the preserve of analysts and board-level executives, it has slowly evolved into a more democratic medium as organisations have come to realise that decision-makers at all levels and in all departments need access to timely, relevant information. Today, a strong move towards the ‘consumerisation’ of BI is evident. Users are demanding the same speed and ease-of-use from their workplace software as ubiquitous tools like Google have delivered in their personal life.
In short, a new breed of BI tools is eschewing cumbersome, complex technology and instead focusing on making the process as intuitive and rewarding as possible. This latest wave of BI – BI 2.0 – is serving a generation of technologically-savvy, information-hungry users.
Characterised by pioneering features like in-memory and associative analysis, powerful BI 2.0 tools are making a more ‘self-service’ approach to reporting and analysis possible. With them, non-technical users can combine previously disconnected information for a complete view and analysis on the fly – without help from the IT department.
So BI software should be offering all the answers. But because many companies are still persevering with outdated BI 1.0 technologies, only 13% of UK companies polled in 2009 by NCC reported complete satisfaction with their BI projects. In fact despite spending more than 7 billion on it in a year (IDC), businesses globally are in a worse shape than ever.
According to IDC, "the challenges that BI implementations present mean that many organisations still struggle to deploy BI pervasively". In fact, as outlined below, there are 10 common pitfalls associated with BI 1.0 that prevent organisations from getting full value from their BI investments.
To download the full whitepaper Qlik Here