Business Intelligence For Everyone
The Internet has not brought the promised land exactly the way predicted, but it has culturally changed the way we look at information. It has extended the realized value of information to everyone, and people are now more comfortable with technology. Because of this simple reality, use of Business
Intelligence software will grow exponentially.
Historically, large organizations will spend millions of dollars on Information Technology and collect incredible amounts of data, only to utilize less than 7% on average. Even more startling, according to Giga, most organizations only roll out access to 5% of potential users. Moving forward, the
businesses that can bring utilization closest to 100% will become the market leaders.
With that in mind, we have built WebFOCUS to be the most usable, deployable, and scalable business intelligence solution on the market.
Since launching the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence environment five years ago, the emphasis at Information Builders has been on using the Web and related technologies to deliver information more consistently and to a broader audience. Wide-scale deployment is our calling card. WebFOCUS has many different
interfaces and output mediums, including strong support for mobile and wireless technologies (see related stories in this issue: Wireless Information Delivery, and WebFOCUS Keeps City [Richmond, British Columbia] Above Water, On Track for Future).
WebFOCUS allows users to access just about any type of data, then drill down to spot trends, forecast problems and analyze information in detail. Its emphasis on personalized access to information helps meet the individual requirements and skill levels of employees, partners, and customers. From the
outset, WebFOCUS was designed with one overriding objective in mind: to match the method of delivery and type of presentation to the needs and preferences of each individual.
WebFOCUS applications are easy to customize. Users can tailor their reporting environments by deciding what reports they see and how they see them. For example, the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence Dashboard lets users personalize the way they view, store and retrieve information. They can choose what
content appears, how that content is displayed, and how the content is organized. They can also use analytic tools for creating reports, graphs, and bar charts, with features such as matrix reporting, ranking, color-coding, drill-down, and customization with fonts.
For example, MedStar Health used WebFOCUS to set up a user-friendly reporting environment that meets the needs of many types of users, from financial analysts to executives to clinicians. Some of these people need summary information, such as hospital-wide occupancy trends. Others like to be able to
drill down to the details, whether it's a patient's insurance history or the latest blood results from the lab (for the full story, look for Evolving With the Times in this issue).
Ensuring Consistency
As MedStar has demonstrated, most companies want a unified Business Intelligence environment that provides consistent information to many different constituencies. It's cumbersome to deploy different tools for different needs, so the best way to achieve this is with a comprehensive data access and
reporting environment.
Architecturally, a Business Intelligence solution must be Web-based for easy deployment. Most importantly, it has to be scalable. With the advent of enterprise information portals (EIPs) companies aren't just deploying Business Intelligence solutions to hundreds of people, but to thousands.
Business Intelligence becomes more important than ever in this context due to its ability to infuse diverse sources of information with a uniform look and feel. Unfortunately, most of today's popular Business Intelligence products grew up in a client/server environment and were later migrated to the Web.
These products were not properly designed for wide-scale Internet deployment, making them difficult to deploy and manage efficiently. WebFOCUS applications are extremely scalable, as WebFOCUS can be deployed on many different types of computer platforms, from PCs to mainframes.
Beyond the Web
Not everyone wants to launch a Web browser to get at the information they need. Managers might want reports delivered by e-mail. Sales people might want a mobile or wireless interface to receive information while on the road, whether it's a Palm Pilot or a Pocket PC or a RIM e-mail device. And when
they are at a desktop computer, mobile users might need to synchronize data gathered on a laptop or handheld device for further investigation.
Utz Potato Chips is a prime example. The Pennsylvania-based company is using WebFOCUS to enable its distributors to update inventory over the Internet via wireless devices, giving them a continual, real-time view of supply and demand for their products. Until recently, Utz was a small family-owned
business. Now its products are popping up on shelves all over the country. Managers at the company are not just analyzing sales at the end of the month - they're looking at the data every day to determine current demand. Their story is a great example of real-time, on-demand decision-making that has been put in the
hands of the people who are closest to the transaction: the truck drivers.
Tracking Activities
With more users touching information, system administrators need advanced monitoring tools to ensure that users receive consistent, outstanding performance. Sophisticated system management capabilities such as preemptive query governing become more and more important as Business Intelligence becomes
widely deployed. WebFOCUS Resource Analyzer helps administrators create an optimized Business Intelligence environment. For example, if they need to meet the requirements of a Service Level Agreement, they can view a list of the longest-running reports to ensure they are all within specified parameters. If an
organization needs to cut costs, Resource Analyzer can see which reports and queries consume the most CPU resources.
By continually analyzing a site to see what resources are being used, administrators can fine-tune the performance of Business Intelligence activities and Web designers can customize the site so people get the information they need more quickly.
Business Intelligence in Focus
In the current economic climate, we will have to be smarter about our assets and manage them better. Businesses need to be more aggressive and use information as a critical component to their business strategy.
With so many people touching technology, it's important to understand the ground rules for a successful Business Intelligence strategy. Not everyone needs the same information, and not everyone uses it in the same way. Users have different skill sets, and each user requires unique content and levels of
detail. The CEO wants a real-time view of the entire organization. Sales managers are concerned with making quotas and pushing the business into new regions. Engineers want to access current design specs and supplier information. Support people need to know how products are being used. Shipping clerks need to know
which couriers to do business with. The list goes on.
How do you provide a personalized data access, integration and reporting strategy to meet all of these individual needs and skill levels? How do you provide information that is relevant to users and their jobs?
Business intelligence technology exists to help people use information to make better decisions. Everyone is a decision maker. Executives make decisions about what business to be in and how to streamline processes. Managers make decisions about how to run critical functions and operations. Business partners help us
improve the supply chain. Customers make the most important decision of all – whether to be a customer.
The need for business intelligence is clear. The challenge is meeting the increased demand. Information Builders will take the lead in meeting that demand.
Michael Corcoran is vice president of Marketing for Information Builders. David Baum is a freelance writer based in Santa Barbara, CA.
 
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