Business Intelligence Model for 2010

Business intelligence, defined in other words, is the set of processes, skills, technologies, practices and applications used to support decision-making within a corporate or industrial framework. Prudent executives familiar with this relatively new concept are, more and more, implementing projects to leverage the kind of usable information that supports better decision-making in their own corporations and industries.
New times bring new realities, and thus, new business models and concepts. Business Intelligence, or BI, is one such concept. It's a new year, a new decade, and in a previously shaky but hopefully on-the-mend economic climate, businesses and organizations in every industry are finding themselves more pressed to find a competitive edge within their markets in order to not only succeed, but simply survive. In 1989 Howard Dresner (later a GartnerGroup analyst) proposed this umbrella term to describe "concepts and methods to improve business decision making by using fact-based support systems." The term was not popularized until almost ten years later. Its usage is now widespread, but still in its infancy as far as implementation.
Business or competitive intelligence projects can take many forms. Some of these projects might include the implementation of industry-specific analytic applications delivered via software with business intelligence capabilities. According to a paper entitled "Gartner Reveals Five Business Intelligence Predictions for 2009 and Beyond," by 2012, business units will control at least 40% of their total budget for business intelligence. Other BI projects might include implementing events like summits and conferences, such as through services offered by the Marcus Evans group, to encourage the spread of information and the enforcement of data access for the entire organization.
Also referred to as competitive intelligence, BI is one model executives and managers can use to help them strategize after they have gathered information - in ways that are ethical and legal - from the external business environment (i.e., analyzing the competition) and converted that information into usable intelligence to help them raise their own competitive standards. It's important to recognize, however, that competitive intelligence is about more than just analyzing competitors, it's about channeling data-gathering efforts toward the end goal of making the organization more competitive relative to its environment.
The following are just a few critical factors needed for the successful implementation of a business intelligence system: a clear vision & planning, committed management support & sponsorship, business driven methodology & project management, data management & quality issues, performance considerations, mapping the solutions to user requirements, robust & extensible framework, brain-storming and information gathering. A business event such as those coordinated by corporate hospitality and production specialists at the Marcus Evans group is one such medium which can be highly conducive to the dispersion of such knowledge throughout the ranks of an organization.
First, companies must appoint "enterprise architects" to head up intelligence gathering and analytic efforts. Then, it's up to decision-makers to form strategies based on this information, ultimately dispersing them through appropriate channels via business events and gatherings such as those offered by Marcus Evans. According to the same Gartner paper previously referenced, through 2012, more than 35% of the top 5,000 global companies will regularly fail to make insightful decisions about significant changes in their business and markets, simply because of lack of information, processes, and tools.
About the Author By Jenny Heart. Marcus Evans professional training provided at Marcus Evans business conferences worldwide. Learn more about Marcus Evans global summits.

(ArticlesBase SC #1722592)

Article Source: Business Intelligence articles. http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Business Intelligence Model for 2010

Challenges of Successfully Deploying Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing

Business intelligence and data warehousing are commonly associated terms. In fact, many of the tool vendors position their products as business intelligence software rather than data warehousing software. There are other occasions where the two terms are used interchangeably. So, what exactly is business intelligence?
Business intelligence refers to the information that is available for the enterprise to make decisions on. A data warehousing (or data mart) system is the backend, or the infrastructural component for achieving business intelligence. It also includes the insight gained from conducting data mining analysis, as well as unstructured data (thus the need for content management systems).

The concept of business intelligence has existed since ages for achieving long-term organizational goals by looking at trends and patterns, multi-dimensional analysis and so forth. The data typically exists anywhere from a day to a week, to a month, to even a year or more. What has essentially changed is the focus to get it closer to real time. That’s what is referred to as operational business intelligence. It is more about managing daily operations. Initially strategic business intelligence meant building our own little worlds. Data was extracted out of the operational systems and data warehouses and data marts were built in accordance, completely disconnected from the operational environment on purpose. This really helped create strategic decision-making environments, without affecting the operational systems. But all that has changed now with operational business intelligence and data warehousing being interconnected. No longer can there be a wall between the operational side of the house and operational business intelligence.

Operational business intelligence is also used by a very different audience. By its very nature, it has to be made more actionable for it to be useful by the operation personnel as well. And, by actionable, that means it has to be embedded into their everyday workflow, or their everyday processes. The traditional audience—the business analysts, and the executives—who are interested in being able to analyze this historical information were not really focused on current or real time or, even near real time data for that matter. In other words, the joint efforts of business intelligence & data warehousing is the need of the hour.
About the Author
Arun Gupta is a professional writer for an Offshore Software Development Indian IT company offering customized solutions including Application Testing, Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing (BI & DW) and Infrastructure Management Services for clients around the world.

(ArticlesBase SC #733433)

Article Source: Business Intelligence Articles, Business Intelligence Data Mining Software Application. http://www.articlesbase.com/ - Challenges of Successfully Deploying Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing

Business Intelligence BI Software Vendor - Apriso

The manufacturing industry has adopted Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing and many other methodologies. Unfortunately, the systems used to support these initiatives lack the agility for success. They're not real-time. They are siloed and can’t be integrated or extended to provide the end-to-end control and visibility required to run a highly optimized manufacturing operation. Simply put, they lack what organizations need to adapt and thrive in today’s highly competitive environment.

Recognizing this as both a problem and an opportunity, Apriso has designed an entirely new solution around a concept called adaptive manufacturing, in which manufacturers adopt systems and processes that provide the agility required to adopt new extended business models and continuous improvement initiatives, while also reducing risk by maintaining strict controls over process and quality. Apriso helps its customers gain competitive advantage by:

* Enabling rapid response to both planned and unexpected change
* Providing end-to-end, real-time visibility and control over operations on the plant floor, throughout the enterprise and across the entire supply network
* Tightly integrating planning, execution, and control
* Increasing efficiencies and eliminating errors

Apriso delivers these results through FlexNet,® the first adaptive operations execution platform and application suite. The innovation reflected in FlexNet comes as no surprise to those familiar with Apriso. The company lays claim to a long list of industry ‘firsts,’ including:

* Introducing the first adaptive manufacturing and logistics execution solution
* Creating the industry’s first application to integrate Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) with applications to track and manage time and labor
* Developing the first operations execution platform to incorporate Business Process Management (BPM) functionality
* Offering the first and only manufacturing solution to fully support SOAs by being 100% Web services based
* Being the first in North America to achieve “Certified by SAP NetWeaver” status, as well as one of the first to achieve “Powered by SAP NetWeaver for Industry Standards” certification, and a Cross Application Partnership with SAP
* Deploying the widest MES and Warehouse Management Systems(WMS) rollouts; 40+ at a number of customers
* Being the first operations execution software vendor to natively support Microsoft’s .NET framework.

Apriso offers Business Intelligence application software and Business Intelligence solutions, including ERP or Enterprise Resouce Planing application software, Manufacturing application, Manufacturing Execution Systems or MES, Business Process Management (BPM), Master Data Management solution (MDM), Supply Chain Management, SCM software, SOA or Service Oriented Architecture solution, ROI or Return On Investment solution, Business Process Automation application software, Warehouse Management System (WMS), Quality Execution System (QES), Quality Management System (QMS), Computerized Maintenance Management System solution or CMMS, and Supply Chain Visibility or SCV solution.

For more Business information BI application software, visit www.apriso.com

Leveraging Business Intelligence to Your Advantage in the Down Economy

The use of BI within any organisation (large or small) is critical at any time, particularly in a difficult climate. Business Intelligence should be heavily sought, acquired, and maintained in order to remain abreast of changes and challenges in the marketplace, for offerings applicability to the end user of the corporation's product or service, to keep an eye on what the competitors have in development or in their pipeline, to determine the competitor's key clients or customers, and to comprehend and remain vigilant in the pursuit and use of emerging technologies, uses, and markets. It should also be turned inward, to ensure effective performance and management within one's own enterprise. Regardless of its employment, BI shouldn't be used in determination of a quick fix for an organisation (although changes can be expedited due to BI implementation), but instead as a critical means toward direction of the future of the company for years to come.

The advantages of BI are clear: Unlike ever before, an organisation is able to infiltrate a marketplace, getting to know its competitors, clients, and potential clients - and even itself - with accuracy and a level of informative intensity that will only prove to become more in-depth and telescopic, in the future. Knowledge is power, and the power gained from such knowledge is exponentially more powerful than has been seen in business, to date. This information can be utilised in all aspects of business, from technological advancements, conceptualisation, design, innovation and manufacturing, to marketing, advertising, public relations, and sales.

While knowing what your competitors and internal departments are up to always seems delightfully advantageous, one must consider that the levels of potential use and penetration to the advantage of a corporation is directly equal to the level of your competitor's penetration and insight into your company's own operations and pathways for the future. The BI utilised by your company to your advantage every day is also being pursued, obtained, and utilised against you. So, celebrate your advantages obtained through BI, but do so warily and with a tighter hold upon all of your organisation's own information.

Your organisation may not have formally implemented a policy of BI utilisation. However, you might be surprised to learn that you are already actively employing several means of researching, collecting, and presenting such analytics.

For example, a simple spreadsheet about your competitors' revenue, expenditures, top level employees, and other such data is a very basic form of BI. Beyond spreadsheets, other accepted forms of BI are:

.. Software that reports and queries (such as database software) .. OLAP (online analytical processing, such as provided by Microsoft, Oracle, Freereporting.com, OpenI, and RapidMiner)

.. Digital Dashboards (presentation allowing monitoring of the contribution of various parts of an organisation)

.. Data Mining (extraction of patterns from banks of data) .. Process Mining (analysis of processes based upon event logs) .. Business Performance Management (aids in business performance optimisation through a microscopic view into processes that drive results)

.. Local Information Systems (LIS: tools which support geographic reporting)

To implement BI within a company, first assess needs (perhaps through a stringent SWOT of the BI situation) and financial constraints for such knowledge to be gained through BI. The suggested budget amount is presently about 20% of an overall operations financial plan, leading to as high as 40% in the next five years. Next conduct research into product availability and determine which best suits your needs.

While implementation of BI should be included within any growing business of the present and future, the entity should not become a puppet to its analytics and competitive knowledge. As in any form of business wherein marketing strategy meets technology, it will remain critical that a convergence of these two important facets of daily business is smooth and cooperative, versus one aspect becoming entirely relied upon to drive the other - and despite the propensity of these two realms of business to not work in the most natural of cohesion.

Technologies, applications, and analytic practices utilised to aid an organisation in determination of its actual, past and future situations within the marketplace and in comparison to competition are collectively known as Business Intelligence (BI), which also commonly describes the data or findings of the analytics. BI can be strategically utilised to determine the departmental performance of a company (an internal glimpse), competitors of a company and their strategies, and when utilised properly, the acquired information enables the organisation to advance ahead of its competition.

About the Author

Hi, my name is Imran Zaman and I run the daywatcher.com Blog. The blog aims to (in an informal setting) to disseminate free articles, stories and bookmarks to interesting resources on the web covering Business, Technology, Innovation and Digital Media.

BI Software Topics : BI at Down Economy, Business Intelligence Software, BI Application. Source: goarticles.com

2008-2009 Annual Report on China's Business Intelligence (BI) Software Market

As for market competition, there are many management software manufacturers in decision-making support application market, such as UFIDA, Kingdee and Langchao provide management software for high-end clients and they also provide decision-making support system on the basis of management system. In data management application market, because of its high requirements for technology and complicated data processing, international BI giants occupy this market.

In the face of changes and challenges of competition and the market, we release 2008-2009 Annual Report on China's Business Intelligence (BI) Software Market, which helps vendors, investors and industry insiders grasp more accurately laws governing the market's development and in combing the development track of application value:

Deep and accurate market research data: On the basis of in-depth research of leading vendors' product lines, the report depicts changes in the market from the angle of regional structure, vertical structure and parallel structure.

All-round and profound brand analysis: In addition to summing up enterprises' performance in the dimension of market segments, competitive strategy and SWOT analysis, we leverage its profound understanding of the IT market to establish a CPM matrix system consisting of 6 items and 31 sub-items, to review the makings of success in the marketplace. Vendors are divided into four quadrants including leaders and challengers.

Scientific and complete forecasts: Through regression modeling and expert verification in major market segments, it conducts correlation analysis with related industry links, to present valuable trend analysis and quantitative forecast result.

Copyright by FriedlNet.com
To get more information, please contact us:

Friedl Business Information GmbH
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Email: rc@friedlnet.com

In 2008, growth is still the theme of China's BI market. BI software could be divided into two kinds of applications, decision support application and data management application. Decision support application's emphases are integrating enterprise system applications, establishing enterprise management platform, and supporting comprehensive management tools for enterprise decision-makers. This kind of application has wide popularity, it could be relatively simple to realize, and it has close relations with enterprises' former informatization system integration. Based on enterprises' mass data, data management application is widely applied in telecom, energy, and finance industries with abundant data.

About the Author

FriedlNet has become a leader in providing China-based information to the professional community in any environment and medium it requires, including digital and printed publications, research reports and industry analysis, information services, as well as ready-made and customized directories and databases.

BI Software Topics : BI Software in China, 2008-2009 BI Software Report, Business Intelligence BI Software in China 2009. Source: goarticles.com

Improve Business Intelligence with Hyperion Softwares

Various performance-managing applications such as Oracle Hyperion are a modular collection of incorporated consequences that sustain a wide range of tactical and monetary performance management processes to facilitate management excellence. These inclusive, market-leading groups constrain lucrative growth by bringing expected results and improving lucidity and conformity to increase business configuration. These solutions integrate data from various sources to provide accurate analysis. It consists of many tools such as graphical analysis, powerful integrated reporting and production reporting.

Hyperion solutions are used to plan, construct, develop, supervise and improve data warehouses of electronically assembled data. They work as a vital business tool to back up the necessary data to integrate the important business operations. Business Intelligence is considered as an important part of data administration. The application of such intelligent business solutions allows the users to work more and retrieve data for business efficiency. It helps in manufacturing the data dictionary and offers effective techniques of managing meta-data. This system helps provide prevailing application that encourages higher efficiency and permits one to develop overall competence. In contrast to other operational systems that support only few operational processes, this software is designed especially to use with business intelligence tools. Various companies use these softwares to provide accurate and comprehensive system migrations, installations for the configuration of services. You can use their experts for various migrations for any computer system.

Organizations face an immense range of intricate financial coverage and consolidation requirements in an environment of ever-increasing analysis by auditors and regulators. Quick, precise, and translucent financial reporting is essential. Finance departments need to seal the books more rapidly with complete assurance, and meet a fast emerging demand for management reporting information.

These organizations provide genuine expertise at lower cost using the majority of Hyperion products, which provides maximum value with minimum fluff. They can also provide your business with tightly incorporated, ample, and applicable enterprise for performance management abilities that results in maximum Return on investment. These softwares are dedicated to help organizations to increase productivity by mechanizing tasks to reduce overall costs giving the proactive solutions to solve organizational needs.

Distributing right information to the right people, in a right way and at the right time is the basic step in the success of any organization. Converting your organization's operational data into an accessible storage data warehouse is what is known as Business intelligence. It helps the organizations to make perceptive, pertinent and timely business decisions usually based on curtailed, incongruent, and enormous data sets. Many software solutions are used to design, develop, optimize and implement the product knowledge essential to maximize ones business intelligence investments.

About the Author

For more information about Hyperion solutions please visit :- http://www.advancedepm.com/

BI Software Topics : Hyperion Software, Oracle BI Software, Business Intelligence BI Application Software. Source: goarticles.com

DMC Software Solutions hail the powerful features of the upcoming Sage 200 BI

Sage 200 BI for Commercials is a powerful tool for businesses, invaluable companies emerging from recession, says DMC Software Solutions. Sage 200 BI is due for imminent release and is "a superior alternative to complex spreadsheet reporting with easy to create reports and powerful analysis which will improve the accuracy."

Sage 200 BI takes data collated in day-to-day processes and transforms it into actionable intelligence. Users are able to quickly and easily report, analyse and interrogate every aspect of business performance as information is required, informing strategic decisions and helping to build a significant competitive advantage.

The latest release of Sage 200 BI, Sage 200 BI for Commercials, builds on previous versions as it now encompasses more data. Traditionally Sage 200 BI included five financial data cubes however in Sage 200 BI for Commercials an additional eight commercial data cubes are available. The latest cubes provide in depth analysis of Sales Order Invoices, Purchase Order Invoices, Stock Movement, Sales Orders, Sales Despatches, Purchase Supply, Stock Levels and Stock Discrepancies.

Ben Robertson, Sage 200 Project Manager at DMC Software said, "The current economic climate has forced businesses to re-think how they use their data. With Sage 200 Business Intelligence businesses are able to better understand implications of an investment, identify business trends and anomalies which all support better business decisions and planning moving forward.

"Introducing a BI solution to an organisation can radically change the way in which it functions and the new found agility can improve a business's competitive advantage. BI solutions can enable businesses to adapt quickly to the changing needs of the customer, identifying requirements of the target market ahead of the competition."

- ENDS -

For more information on the CRM solutions and professional services available from DMC Software visit www.dmcsoftware.co.uk. Alternatively, email info@dmcsoftware.co.uk or call FREEPHONE 0800 6522 423 to speak to a member of the sales staff.

For more information please contact Jade Dixon-Winters, Marketing Executive.
Email: jadewinters@dmcsoftware.co.uk
Tel: 01733 362120

Postal address: Churchill House, Isis Way, Minerva Business Park, Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6QR

About the Author

DMC Software is a company that is experienced in providing Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Accounts and integrated business solutions for businesses of all sizes, across a broad range of industries including ACT! by Sage, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. With advanced development abilities DMC can tailor a solution to meet the exact requirements of a business, providing the tools and supporting services to increase efficiency and profitability.

BI Topics : DMC Software, Sage 200 BI Software, Business Intelligence BI Application Software. Source: goarticles.com