Software

A tale of two BIs

All modern Information Technologies which are capable of improving the enterprise competitiveness fall in the scope of BI, such as ERP, CRM, Reporting tools, Data Computing, Statistical Analysis, Data Mining, OLAP, and ETL, etc. They can be divided into two categories: Desktop BI and Solution BI.[read more]

Marketing automation

Leading marketing and advertising agencies are discovering that marketing automation is giving them the power to outflank their competition. Here are the steps you can take to automate your marketing, improving your customer service and your profits in the process.[read more]

data variety / shutterstock

Data variety stands out from the three Vs of big data from the report of the big data survey conducted by NewVantage Partners in 2012. One of the survey results shows companies focusing more on data variety instead of data volume both now and in the next three years.[read more]

Customer data / shutterstock

Focusing on customer retention and reducing churn instead of customer acquisition, Gainsight integrates with Salesforce and uses sales data, surveys, support tickets, usage logs and other sources of customer intelligence to turn customer retention into an automated, data-driven process.[read more]

SaaS / shutterstock

Data stored in SaaS applications is often inaccessible to BI tools. This is a major headache to early adopters of SaaS applications. With on-premise applications, IT departments can bypass the application and access data directly from the underlying database.[read more]

data archive / shutterstock

Preserving knowledge for generations is no easy task. Key components of this massive undertaking include decisions in technology, architecture, data storage, and data accessibility. What are steps to architect a solution to keep your own data safeguarded and accessible long-term?[read more]

big data & healthcare

With so much waste and opportunity in the healthcare industry, it should be no surprise that quite a few software vendors are focusing on Big Data–and not just behemoths like IBM. Start-ups like Explorys, Humedica, Apixio, and scores of others have entered the space.[read more]

business intelligence / shutterstock

Businesses now ask less sophisticated users to perform analysis and rely on software to help them. In response, Oracle recently announced a new release of its flagship Oracle BI Foundational Suite, as well as updates to Endeca, the discovery platform that Oracle bought in 2011.[read more]

data flow

With big data come a few challenges. What can we do when data flows faster than it can be processed? There is a solution that benefits everyone (users, companies such as Google, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook or Twitter, and clients): better use of data science.[read more]

Hadoop toolbox

Hadoop and Big Data have almost become synonymous. But Hadoop is not just Hadoop now. Over time it has evolved into a big herd of various tools, each meant to serve a different purpose. But glued together they give you a powerpacked combo. Here's my short intro to some very useful tools.[read more]

Hadoop, meet Ubuntu

Now, here is a treat for all you Hadoop and Ubuntu lovers. Last month, Canonical, the organization behind the Ubuntu operating system, partnered with MapR, one of the Hadoop heavyweights, in an effort to make Hadoop available as an integrated part of Ubuntu through its repositories.[read more]

BI consumerization

For some people, how something looks or feels will overcome the three other consumerization attributes: speed, usability, and relevance. It’s worth noting that while usability and aestethics are closely related they’re not the same. Something can be very usable, but not look pleasing.[read more]

Tom Horton, American Airlines CEO

American Airlines suffered a computer outage due to a software problem in both their main and backup systems, according to the CEO. When I worked in IT, we had rigorous backup plans in case of software failures. What are you doing to mistake-proof your IT infrastructure and software?[read more]

dashboard / shutterstock

Decisions was initially focused on providing an OEM engine for companies in products like Central Logic Core, RCx Rules, CareFamily and Aviacode – everything from medical coding to claims pre-processing and more. More recently they have begun to sell to end user companies.[read more]

Big Data Analytics

We are reaching a crossroads in the world of analytics. Over the years, we have seen analytic environments and data environments begin to merge through the advent of in-database processing within relational database engines. But is this causing a case of "2 steps forward, 4 steps back"?[read more]