Business Intelligence Lowdown

Carnival of Business Intelligence #2

--By Sagar Satapathy

Welcome to the second edition of the Carnival of Business Intelligence. Here are some great posts that made the cut because of their quality and content.

Almomento presents Open Call For Project MastermindX posted at BurstCreativity. Ability to be creative in all of the aspects of our life can enhance it beyond belief. Since creativity enhances with practice, we have to put ourselves through an intense emergence into the world of creativity, to make a profound change in how we approach life.

Phil presents Rising Sea Levels « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity. By the end of this century according to Time Magazine, sea levels could rise by more than 4 feet!

Scott Lee presents Challenges and Powerful Potential With Network and Multi-Level Marketing posted at Dirty Mechanism. Multi-level marketing itself, in pairing with network marketing, is often looked upon as a giant pyramid scheme, or scam.

Anna Farmery presents It is not the words, it is the understanding posted at The Engaging Brand. Communication in business is not about telling, it is about understanding.

Alan presents Risk Taking - Living life to the fullest posted at Made to Be Great. Don’t play close to the fire or you will burn, don’t climb to high, you might fall; be realistic or you will just end up disappointed.

Wilson Ng presents Profits Straight to the Bottom Line posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife. Using MIS to understand your cost structure as well as in making pricing decisions are a must. but first, you must understand how it impacts your bottom line.

Murad Ali presents Ethics in business: How to make the right decision? posted at The New Business World. Ethical questions have plagued business owners ever since they have developed a conscious. The standards of ethics have changed over time and vary from culture to culture.

Praveen presents Review of "The Rich Jerk" - Get It Free, Plus $1 posted at My Simple Trading System. Learn more about the "Rich Jerk" marketing book.

Vahid Chaychi presents Viral Marketing Strategies - Learn How to Spread the Words for Free! posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing. Do you know how websites like Hotmail and Google became popular and well-known? They didn't spend a single cent for advertising. They used the power of viral marketing.

That concludes the second edition of the Carnival of Business Intelligence. Thank you for promoting this carnival on your blogs through a link back. See you next time.

Carnival of Business Intelligence #1

Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of Business Intelligence! It is really great to receive a good number entries to this carnival despite of the short notice given to our readers. I hope it will turn out to be a huge success in future. Without further ado, here are the posts in the order they were received.

Emmanuel Oluwatosin presents How to harness the Intelligence of Customer to solve your problems posted at Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions. Ever heard of the word “CrowdSourcing“? Fansourcing, crowdcasting, crowdfunding, or wikinomics? Despite the jargony name, crowdsourcing is a very real and important business idea.

GameProducer.net presents 80 Percent of Companies Won't Fail Within 5 Years posted at GameProducer.Net. Yet they keep telling us otherwise.

Lucas McDonnell presents More distributed tags means more personalization. posted at Uncommon Knowledge.. A brief article on the importance of distributed tagging.

Praveen presents My Simple Trading System: Tracking Customer Profitability posted at My Simple Trading System. In these days of global competition, businesses have to continually improve their profitability and margins, reduce costs, and boost their efficiencies.

Murad Ali presents Knowing your business’s strengths and weaknesses: A simple SWOT analysis. posted at The New Business World. Business owners often wonder whether or not they are in a strong or weak position when compared to their competition. The SWOT analyzes a businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in order to help the owner/manager precisely where their business stands.

Priscilla Ortiz presents 10 Web tips for entrepreneurs posted at Priscilla Ortiz - Journal to Prosperity, Path to Freedom Inc.. These were a few sites that helped Priscilla get started with websites and blogs, it's a good start.

Vahid Chaychi presents Get Inspired by the Success Stories and Interviews posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing. You may get disappointed while you have started a new business and it has not given any good result yet. Most people give up at this point and stop working. One of the best things that prevents you to give up, is reading the success stories and interviews of successful people in your niche. Learn how to find and read them every week.

Barbra Sundquist presents Top Five Places for Small Business Networking (HomeBusinessWiz.com) posted at HomeBusinessWiz. Networking. Does the word strike fear into your heart, or does it excite you with its possibilities?

Vincent McBurney presents Next time you want to dump testing look at the Hubble posted at Tooling around on the Information Server. This post details the sequence of events that lead to a major flaw in the Hubble Telescope image quality with lessons for BI and DW projects around testing and quality.

Charles H. Green presents Seductive Statistics posted at Trust Matters. If what you're trying to measure is intangible, your metrics may kill your results.

Jack Yoest presents Exxon and Global Warming and Capitalism posted at Reasoned Audacity. "Exxon, the sign of the double cross," quipped one leftist wag. The oil energy giant is often maligned by anarchists, non-capitalists and environmentalists. No matter what a Fortune 500 does, it will be maligned by socialists. And now the tree-spikers/tree huggers are even madder. Or are celebrating. It is sometimes hard to tell the difference.

That concludes the first edition of the Carnival of Business Intelligence. You will definitely agree that it is important for all carnival participants to do their part to support the carnival and help it grow by promoting it on their personal site. We will appreciate any such gesture on your part. Thanks!

Atlanta Goes Intelligent on Cognos

-- Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Government agencies across Atlanta are set to clean up their acts, with the help of innovative business intelligence software from the house of Cognos. The tools will help the city to assess performance metrics for various tasks, automate revenue collection from parks and other recreational facilities, allow data to be integrated across disparate databases, create comprehensive reports without manual intervention and search, and monitor high-end data management and procurement.

The project, which is expected to cost the city $2.1 million in software and consultation fees, will be implemented by 1,000 users in the next 12 to 18 months. The Cognos 8 Business Intelligence solution will take over the tasks hitherto performed by Microsoft Excel worksheets and performance management software from CorVu. Cognos’ solution scored over similar offerings from Hyperion Solutions, Oracle and OutlookSoft.

Crime fighting, garbage disposal, pothole, road and traffic signal repairs – the tasks may be different, but the functions that govern them remain basically the same. The Cognos system will allow agency officials to harness the present work order, fleet, time and human resources management systems, and pull data from various sources and provide intelligent information for decision-making.

5 Software Programs that work Wonders for Small Business Companies

--By Sagar Satapathy

If you are stepping into the digital world with the goal of making your small business a successful one, you will have a number of hurdles to overcome. Propping up your business will require the implementation of some software programs that have become an integral part of any successful business process.

If you choose to ignore those applications, then you are in danger of losing your business prospects to your competitors. There are many such software applications that are crucial to the success of your business, but I am sure that these P5 are something you cannot ignore.

1. Microsoft Dynamics Financial Software

Microsoft Dynamics is not new to the users who are well updated on the technology trends in the market. Previously, it was known as Microsoft Business Solutions. This is definitely a powerful solution for the small businesses. If you are fed up with your old accounting software, then it's the right time for you to go for Microsoft Dynamics. It has been specifically designed for small businesses.

Microsoft Dynamics has all the robust features to strengthen your accounting, payroll and other financial processes. It will also help in lowering your operational costs. If you are concerned about the cost of this software, then you have a reason to smile. It's FREE of COST!

2. Goldenseal Small Business Software

I am not sure whether you know more about Goldenseal Software or not. However, I am sure that it is of your interest. Glodenseal Small Business Software is an integrated software that provides solutions on accounting, project management and construction estimation. This is one of the best software applications for Macintosh and Windows computers.

Goldenseal Software is extremely useful for controlling expenses, managing inventory and projects and keeping track of the customer base. Features of Goldenseal Software include Billing, Accounting, Inventory Tracking, Payroll and Job Costing.

3. NetSuite Small Business

NetSuite Small Business is an amazing software application for small businesses. It provides multiple of options of data and integration projects to a business process. It is cost-effective and time saving. NetSuite Small Business provides a comprehensive solution to small business managers that ultimately help them to run their business in a smooth way.

NetSuite software's real-time dashboards provide business intelligence to the all areas of the company. With this software application, companies will no longer have to pay thousands of dollars to manage their businesses. NetSuite Small Business not only gives a competitive edge to the business, but also it helps managers in making better decisions.

4. Documents 101 - Document Management Software

Document management is one of the most important functions in any business. Every company needs a full-proof document management system to streamline its business operations. If you are looking for such a system, then Documents 101 is the right option for you.

Documents 101 is a digital document management system. It has been designed to store and access scanned documents, digital images and audio/video files. The paperless solution provided by Document 101 is extremely helpful for attaching. storing and printing documents and files.

5. iKorb Internet Software

Most small businesses have adopted Internet technology to boost their growth prospects. However, it is not easy to implement Internet services in the applications of an organization. You will have to take several things into consideration before selecting the right Internet Software for your business.

iKorb Internet Software should be your first choice if you are finding it tough to choose the best one. iKorb's Internet solutions focus on delivering accurate, custom software solutions. It will also make your project cost effective, which is crucial for your business.

iKorb Internet Software takes care of all the Internet functions including site building, website management, email management, database management and software testing. It reduces the performance of the network and strengthens the communication between the company and its clients. 

Final Word:

There are many software programs that might help your business to reach the zenith of its growth. However, the above five software solutions definitely have an edge over others in terms of quality, cost, reliability and high performance.

Intelligent Business with Salesforce

-- By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer

Salesforce.com just opened its portals to business intelligence software from Business Objects. Crystal reports and the Beta version of business widgets are now available to users of AppExchange. Data from Salesforce applications can be leveraged to create complex reports using Crystal, and to measure business performance using the widgets. TMC Net reports:

Customers can also access pre-built reports—including pipeline forecasting, sales by geography and product segmentation. The new business widgets help reduce the time needed to complete everyday tasks such as tracking closed revenue, looking up contacts, and spotting neglected leads.

Salesforce has been making waves in the SaaS industry by adding new capabilities to its AppExchange.

 

BI Booming in Asia-Pacific

The business of business intelligence (BI) is booming in the Asia-Pacific region. With intense competition and the need to comply with regulations driving the market, Malaysia is set to register BI applications sales of $10 million by the end of this year, according to IDC. The research firm also predicts that this figure will double in another four years.

Japan already has a whopping BI market worth $340 billion, and other countries in the region, though just off the starting block, are picking up speed. The BI industry will grow at a compounded annual rate of 13.5 percent over the five-year period between 2005 and 2010, says Sharon Tan, senior analyst with IDC’s Asia-Pacific unit.

The largest users of BI in Malaysia are the government, telecommunications companies and manufacturing units, which leverage analytical tools and applications to make sense of the daily volumes of transactional data. Tan says Malaysia has a long way to go before it can put business performance management (BPM) to optimal use. Training and education, easy-to-use software, industry-specific solutions and management attitude are factors that will play a key role in the adoption of BI among other sectors and industries.

According to IDC, ten years from now, the BI as we know it today will morph into intelligence process automation (IPA). The research company defines IPA as the ability to automate simple, operational decisions. BI will go past the analysts and data-mining users to the mass market, says IDC.

Visual Treat From Business Objects

Visual models that are updated with the latest data as and when events happen – this is the latest offering from business intelligence provider Business Objects for enterprises that wish to improve and enhance performance management.

The Crystal Xcelsius Viewer offers a visual dashboard of interactive data, with security capabilities and live data connectivity through web-based services for users in a company. Corporate databases are linked interactively to provide visual displays that lend themselves to analysis of business performance.

Crystal Xcelsius Viewer combines the power of Business Object’s BI platform, BusinessObjects XI Release 2, with Crystal Xcelsius, the data visualization tool purchased from Informmersion.

HP Unveils New Analytic Tools

If you are in the business intelligence field, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) has a treat in store in terms of its new analytics software that allows you to implement “what-if” simulations of possible changes in IT systems, operations, and staffing levels. HP rolled out a preview of three OpenView management tools – OpenView DecisionCenter 1.0, OpenView AssetCenter 5.0, and OpenView Application Insight 7.0 - at HP Software Forum 2006, its software user conference held in Miami Beach earlier this week.

The DecisionCenter tool will be of great help to the IT manager who wishes to determine the extra costs that will be associated with improving server uptime in a data center, in terms of personnel and infrastructure. AssetCenter will aid in the management of the lifetime of IT assets, while Application Insight will allow IT managers to view the inter-dependencies between the applications, servers, and other devices on a network.

Read more about these tools here.

Business Objects Launches New Release

New features introduced in BusinessObjects XI Release 2 for SAP Solutions promise to enhance the way organizations leverage their data. Business intelligence solution provider Business Objects has launched the solution that is based on Business Object’s BI platform and allows customers to perform an integrated analysis of their business by facilitating data access across SAP applications like SAP R/3, mySAP ERP, SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence Solutions, as well as across non-SAP applications. Functionality has been improved in the reporting and data visualization and metadata management components. Decision-making and performance enhancement are more effective with Release 2. Database Trends and Applications reports:

Key components of BusinessObjects XI Release 2 Built for SAP Solutions include: pre-built report templates across all functional areas of SAP Netweaver BI and SAP R/3; simplified access to data from all SAP and non-SAP sources for a complete business operations view; native application-layer connectivity to SAP R/3 that utilizes SAP business logic and security, and a unique BAPI interface to SAP NetWeaver BI; Crystal Reports XI Release 2, which allows users to rapidly create print-quality reports; and Web Intelligence, the query and analysis solution.

Microsoft's BI Offerings

New business intelligence software is now available from Microsoft that allows for medium sized companies to analyze business data through the use of analytics and scorecards. Users of Microsoft Dynamics SL can build, manage, and view scorecards and reports using Business Intelligence Optimization (BIO), which is scheduled for manufacture in May and launch in June. The software is priced at $3,600 for a basic version, which includes financial analytics and a two-user license. Computer World reports:

Users can view the analytical reports with Microsoft tools such as Excel, Office SharePoint Services and other Office products or directly within the BIO application. Microsoft developed the new BI software with channel partner NexVue Analytics Corp. BIO is built on SQL Server Analysis Services and integrates with SQL Server 2000 and 2005, Microsoft said.