Business Analytics vs. BI

In this podcast I found that covered multiple issues the panel discusses the difference between business analytics vs. business intelligence. Most of the panel agreed that BA is part of BI. One of the panelists stated that BA is mostly reporting systems where as BI is more complex and encompasses the following:
Software/Algorithms
Processes
Information
They discuss that more and more companies are using the term Beyond BI in their marketing. Most of the panel stated that they felt that this was marketing hype and that most BA companies want to differentiate their products from the rest of the competition. They felt that this type of marketing has created a confusion on the concepts and that BI might not be a perfect terminology but it helps encompass the overall concepts.

BI & the Cloud

I found a podcast called BI in the Cloud -Lower Cost, Faster Deployment, the panel on the podcast discusses where BI solutions can fit in cloud computing. Most of the panel stated that it was a perfect fit, that you get the benefits of the cloud without traditional hosting. One of the panelists states that any program that has cyclical or dynamic capacity fits well with the cloud because you only pay for what you use. Also you can amp up the cloud during heavy pattern periods and amp it down during slow periods. The podcast also discusses security and the panelists state that any security that you can implement withing a traditional hosting system you can also implement the same system on the cloud. It will be interesting to see if companies look to this technology or stick to the traditional systems.

Open Source and BI

I found this podcast called The Evolution of Open Source and Implications for BI, in the podcast they talk about how open sourcing has come a long way and the quality of applications has drastically improved. They mention that open source is delivering the same value as the big company applications with 90% of the development for 10% of the cost. This in turn becomes a safer bet for companies that are already on tight budgets. they state that because open source applications are simpler and modular deliver resources faster. They state that open source is not a either or solution that these applications or solutions can be used in tandem with big company products. The biggest reason they state that open source BI is catching on is because of ease of intergration with current systems and the community collaboration aspect that can create more solutions quicker that other users are running into. This community enhances collaboration more than any single vendor could. Another reason they state open source BI is catching on is because the products available will grow with a company, also that Open Source BI was the first to integrate BI solutions with google maps and create mobile solutions for companies. It will be interesting to see if open source networks can put a dent into major vendors new users considering the state of the current economy.

BPM

I found a podcast with a interview with Dagmar Klaassen a solution specialist for Cognos. Klaassen talks about how this product creates better performance measurement in a organization. It answers three questions:
How am I doing? (Dashboards)
What am I doing? (Analysis)
What Will I do going forward? (Planning)
Klaassen states that this product helps to create standardization within a organization through consolidation and creating a single version of the truth.

Mobile BI

In this video with CEO of Business Objects, he talks about the new advantages and ability of mobile BI. He atates that the mobile applications help to make actionable decisions in real time, this relates to the BAM of being to act now rather than wait and see approach. check out the video interview below

Reality Mining

I found this MIT project called reality mining in which they take cell phone activity and use that information to predict peoples activity. Pretty crazy stuff here is a snipet from the site
"The original Reality Mining experiment is one of the largest mobile phone projects attempted in academia. Our research agenda takes advantage of the increasingly widespread use of mobile phones to provide insight into the dynamics of both individual and group behavior. By leveraging recent advances in machine learning we are building generative models that can be used to predict what a single user will do next, as well as model behavior of large organizations.

We have captured communication, proximity, location, and activity information from 100 subjects at MIT over the course of the 2004-2005 academic year. This data represents over 350,000 hours (~40 years) of continuous data on human behavior. Such rich data on complex social systems have implications for a variety of fields."

BAM

I found this video on Business activity monitoring(BAM) where the interviewee Chris Brakel from microsoft ebusiness describes the difference between business intrelligence and business activity monitoring. This is a really good clarification and shows some really good examples of BAM in action.

Semantic Web

The discussion into semantic web in class a week ago got me interested to see what was out there. I found this video that shows a demo of what a search engine would look like in a semantic web. Very interesting on how you could break down and narrow down a search for a specific query. check it out below

Web mining

I came across this video today about a service called imediastreams. It uses web mining through social networking sites to find target markets for products. In the case of this video it talks about how the software mines the sites to build target audiences for Music artists. I can see how a up and coming artist could use this service to propel themselves to a bigger audience. Check it out below.

Imediastreams - Music Reporting

BI

in chapter 1 the book introduces the concept of Business Intelligence. I found a video interview with Tim Jennings a Research Director for the Butler Group, a IT research firm, on how BI leads to innovation. Jennings states that BI is critical for survival in today's economy and that most companies that did not emphasis a investment in BI in the past have been investing strongly in BI in the recent year. check it out below.

Balance Scorecard

In talking about the balance scorecard in class I found this article where in a interview recently last month with Robert Kaplan the inventor of the balance scorecard method and his advice on how companies should proceed. Kaplan maintains that there should be a continued focus on the Balance Scorecard method but that companies should add the element of risk management or disaster management.

Ch. 12

The section that intrigued me the most was on business intelligence and business analytics. About a month ago I started to notice at the bottom of my web browser the term Google analytics while a link was loading and I never understood what the heck that meant until now. It is definitely amazing how a analytic application can track so much imperative information for a company based on web hits. I wonder what my company's analytic software would look like? It would be amazing to be able to track customer movements within my store on a daily basis. For instance how many times a item was looked at or how many times an item was picked up to project trends. I'm sure that is not too far off in the distant future.
I found a article on Industry Week that talks about business intelligence in the current economic times. the author of the article narrows down 5 key trends that companies will rely on concerning BI.

Ch. 10

In reviewing chapter 10 I was definitely interested by the use of the business case to justify costs of a IT project. It seems like a very useful tool and I feel this tool ties chapter 10 IT Funding with Chapter 11 Project management. I say this because the business case outlines what the project should encompass and its objectives as well as the projects outcomes. It also outlines the cost of the project and what that would look like and allows for adjustment throughout the project. I found this video by Jason Hiner that definitely ties the two chapters together. It is very interesting and is from the IT perspective.

Ch. 9

In chapter 9 it starts out with the example of TJX and using the normative theories of business to justify or criticize TJX's actions during the security breach. Personally, I believe that TJX was completely wrong in not letting consumers know right away of the breach. They were selfish and only thought of their bottom line. TJX knew if it informed right away about the breach in December that it would lose holiday sales in a already soft holiday sales season. I also found a video from a professor at Bentley that talks about RFID tags and privacy issues that may arise. She touches on the normative theories and looks at RFID from all three perspectives.

Ch. 6 Reflections

In chapter 6 the author talks about the architecture of IS systems in a business and how the business strategy must align itself with the architecture and infrastructure for the company's IS system to be successful. Again this ties back into the authors first notion that the business, organizational, and IS strategy must be aligned. In looking at the different IT architectures companies can choose from to align their business strategy with, there is a growing debate on whether to use service-oriented architecture (SOA) or web-oriented architecture (WOA). I found this article on a ZDNet Blog by Joe McKendrick. In the article McKendrick talks about how WOA seems to be winning out over SOA because of its bottom-up mentality. Meaning that because WOA has so much possibility to start small and to be able to expand into a much larger system thus growing with the company. It is a interesting take and I am sure it will be the clear winner for now until the next big IT architecture breakthrough comes along.

Ch. 5

In chapter 5 the author talks about E.R.P. (enterprise resource planning) where it connects important information to all employees in the company. I came across a power point presentation from a student at NTNU a Norwegian technology college that goes further with this topic and discusses the integration of ERP and web 2.0 and how using these two systems will help disseminate information not only to the employee but also the consumer.

Ch. 4

In thinking about chapter 4, I was watching Fox 25 news one morning and they were speaking with a author who struck a chord in what ch. 4 was partially about, collaboration. The book was Throwing sheep into the boardroom, and the author talks in the interview about how businesses can use social networking sites to have existing employees of say the baby boomer generation to be able to connect to a new employee of the millenial generation who currently uses and is entrenched in this new technology, I definitely look forward to reading this book, check out the interview.

C. 3

In chapter 3 the authors discuss organizational culture, in the Smith article, as mentioned below, he talks about how the Japanese culture views technology implementation and discusses the concept of chowa. I found this concept very interesting in reference to IT chowa means that technology should fit the people using it rather than the other way. It is very telling that as a company for a smooth transition you don't want to force a technology onto an employee rather the technology should adapt to the employees ability.

Ch. 2 Reflections

In Chapter 2 the authors the strategic use of information services. The part of the chapter that caught my attention was the concepts of CRM (customer relationship management ) and RBV(resource based view). In retail today knowing your customer is huge, CRM is a big part of that knowing what your customer will be looking for, what there wants and needs are. The examples in the text of the Ritz Carlton and Zara prove this and there stake in each industry. RBV is big in retail because obtaining or using resources to attain or create a competitive advantage over your competition is a must. In the article I found online, Modernizing retail grocery business via knowledge management-based systems by Alan D. Smith. Smith uses a case study about Giant Eagle, a retail grocery chain, to show how they use CRM and RBV through the implementation of technology system KnowAsis. What the system did was created a Networked Organizational structure , discussed in chapter 3, from the old hierarchical organizational structure the company had in place. Every store could access data shared from other stores. It also streamlined their customer advantage card so that the information collected from the use of this program could forecast trends and let the managers of the stores know what their customers were buying.

Ch. 1 Reflections

In Chapter 1 Pearlson & Saunders talk about the Information Systems Strategy Triangle, essentially aligning your companies business strategy, organizational strategy and information strategy. I will find it interesting how they develop this concept throughout the book. In chapter 1 the authors talk about Hypercompetition , basically creating and eroding advantages rapidly. I found an article online that discusses Hypercompetition further that you may find interesting ( On the edge of hypercompetition in higher education: the case of the MBA). Basically what the author talks about in the article is that like businesses in the 90s, traditional colleges are now experiencing increased competition from the likes of internet based and for profit colleges, and must diffrentiate themselfs through the use of hypercompetition. Sharkey creates a great paralell between what happened to businesses in the 90s to what is happening to traditional colleges know. It is very mirrored in the way that traditional colleges just assume that the students will enroll based on name recognition alone, but with the increaing visibility of the web based and for profit colleges. The accessability and affordability of these institutions have lured enrollments away from the traditional colleges.

Still working out the kinks

still working out the kinks. I feel as though I am writing in a diary or a journal. I always made fun of my friends who kept a live journal online saying how lame it was, ha. Now I am in some way writing in a updated version. More to come I promise.