Another great post by Jeff Nolan (surprise, surprise). There is no question that there is a great interest in mining unstructured data, but its a vast space in terms of breadth and depth. For example, just because one can do text search across e-mails, PDFs, PPTs does not mean that one can easily facilitate searching audio, video, and other richer media types. More importantly, there are massive privacy implications for this type of unstructured data mining. Do you want your manager knowing what web pages you visited, what PDFs you read, what audio and video you downloaded? How do I separate that which I want indexed versus that which I do not?
More importantly, I think that unstructured data will have to be searched with structured data using some kind of unified metaphor. Yes, it's true that I have a hard time finding the right e-mail, PDF, PPT, etc., but what's even more frustrating is that I can't link these to existing corporate information assets, like my CRM system, or ERP system, or BPM system. I'm still waiting for the company that understands that what is necessary is an information model that can span structured data like RDBMSs, Multidimensional Databases, and XML data stores and can model the relationships between these entities and unstructured data. When I want a 360 degree view of the customer, I want one information system that understands the relationship between the customers service requests, open opportunities, e-mail correspondence, sales presentations, etc., and can give me a real-time barometer of the health of my relationship with them and more importantly what I can do to improve my relationship with them down the line.
Companies would be willing to pay A LOT for this kind of technology. Maybe I can get SAP Ventures to fund my next startup idea. :)
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Hyperion Debuts Industry's First and Only Comprehensive Performance Management Solution: Hyperion System 9
So the cat is finally out of the bag and I can talk about it publicly. Hyperion System 9 is finally here! System 9 is the industry's first Business Performance Management System. What does that mean?
Well, business performance management, or corporate performance management as it is defined by Gartner, "includes the processes used to manage corporate performance (such as strategy formulation, budgeting and forecasting); the methodologies that drive some of the processes (such as the balanced scorecard or value-based management); and the metrics used to measure performance against strategic and operational performance goals." (Gartner Research, "Corporate Performance Management Applications Explained, October 4, 2005).
How is this different from Business Intelligence? Business Intelligence, as envisioned by Howard Dresner, who coined the phrase, probably would not be much different from Business Performance Management if it evolved along the route that he expected it would. However, what Business Intelligence has wound up becoming is the manifestation of reporting taken to its logical extreme. State of the art pure-play Business Intelligence tools allow end-users to format and layout reports in any way imaginable. They also allow for data exploration using the established techniques pioneered by OLAP vendors.
However, a report in and of itself is hardly valuable without a notion of the process with which it is attached to. And a process in and of itself is hardly valuable without an understanding of the goals of the organization. And the goals of an organization remain ephemeral if they are not operationalized in the form of strategic, operational, and tactical plans. So Business Performance Management software attempts to provide a closed-loop, management decision-making infrastructure that builds upon Business Intelligence technologies but applies it as part of a structured management methodology, such as that formalized by the discipline of Management Accounting.
How does System 9 meet the Business Performance Management mandate? We'll dive into the details in an upcoming set of posts. In the meanwhile, there is a ton of new information on http://www.hyperion.com/.
Well, business performance management, or corporate performance management as it is defined by Gartner, "includes the processes used to manage corporate performance (such as strategy formulation, budgeting and forecasting); the methodologies that drive some of the processes (such as the balanced scorecard or value-based management); and the metrics used to measure performance against strategic and operational performance goals." (Gartner Research, "Corporate Performance Management Applications Explained, October 4, 2005).
How is this different from Business Intelligence? Business Intelligence, as envisioned by Howard Dresner, who coined the phrase, probably would not be much different from Business Performance Management if it evolved along the route that he expected it would. However, what Business Intelligence has wound up becoming is the manifestation of reporting taken to its logical extreme. State of the art pure-play Business Intelligence tools allow end-users to format and layout reports in any way imaginable. They also allow for data exploration using the established techniques pioneered by OLAP vendors.
However, a report in and of itself is hardly valuable without a notion of the process with which it is attached to. And a process in and of itself is hardly valuable without an understanding of the goals of the organization. And the goals of an organization remain ephemeral if they are not operationalized in the form of strategic, operational, and tactical plans. So Business Performance Management software attempts to provide a closed-loop, management decision-making infrastructure that builds upon Business Intelligence technologies but applies it as part of a structured management methodology, such as that formalized by the discipline of Management Accounting.
How does System 9 meet the Business Performance Management mandate? We'll dive into the details in an upcoming set of posts. In the meanwhile, there is a ton of new information on http://www.hyperion.com/.
Data Visualization, just a flash in the pan?
Dan Linstedt has very interesting and progressive ideas on Business Intelligence visualization, an area I have spent a lot of time researching and working on. In this excellent article, Dan talks about the tension between applying really cutting edge technologies versus end-users reluctance to use them.
The most interesting quote: "It's funny, we say business needs to drive technology, true. But sometimes business doesn't know what's possible until technology says: Hey, look at me, this is a new way of thinking - do you have a use?" I want to explore this theme in a future post, but it's time to head to the airport!
The most interesting quote: "It's funny, we say business needs to drive technology, true. But sometimes business doesn't know what's possible until technology says: Hey, look at me, this is a new way of thinking - do you have a use?" I want to explore this theme in a future post, but it's time to head to the airport!
Monday, October 10, 2005
Good Morning Silicon Valley: Reader arrives weakly
Good Morning Silicon Valley is a really funny, offbeat look at what is going on in the Wild West. This article examines the new Google Reader, an RSS aggregator.
I set up a number of feeds by hand to test it out, and for a beta, it works pretty well, but of course it's far from perfect. As others have noted, it is a bit slow to load up, and I have gotten some strange javascript errors. That being said, I think that the approach of releasing software in beta and continually refining is definitely the way to go. Repeated customer feedback will shape the tool far more effectively than any developers or product marketers sitting in their cubicles discussing what they think "the market" wants.
This is one huge advantage of web-based software. You have the flexibility to do this. It is much more difficult when the customer owns the hardware, pays an IT staff for maintenance, and of course, when the application is mission critical, like a financial consolidation system. Still, I think there are principles from this type of development methodology that are certainly worth adopting for the larger companies that sell packaged software.
I set up a number of feeds by hand to test it out, and for a beta, it works pretty well, but of course it's far from perfect. As others have noted, it is a bit slow to load up, and I have gotten some strange javascript errors. That being said, I think that the approach of releasing software in beta and continually refining is definitely the way to go. Repeated customer feedback will shape the tool far more effectively than any developers or product marketers sitting in their cubicles discussing what they think "the market" wants.
This is one huge advantage of web-based software. You have the flexibility to do this. It is much more difficult when the customer owns the hardware, pays an IT staff for maintenance, and of course, when the application is mission critical, like a financial consolidation system. Still, I think there are principles from this type of development methodology that are certainly worth adopting for the larger companies that sell packaged software.
MDX Solutions : with Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 and Hyperion Essbase
MDX Solutions : with Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 and Hyperion Essbase
I just wanted to give a quick plug for George Spofford et al's MDX Solutions 2nd Edition. I work with George at Hyperion Solutions, and besides being a wonderful guy, he has phenomenal depth in understanding both Analysis Services and Hyperion's Essbase. What's great about the book is that he provides a number of interesting comparisons between the two technologies. For example, the book shows comparisons in how the same use case is addressed slightly differently in the MDX that is specific to each product. I hope the book does really well.
I just wanted to give a quick plug for George Spofford et al's MDX Solutions 2nd Edition. I work with George at Hyperion Solutions, and besides being a wonderful guy, he has phenomenal depth in understanding both Analysis Services and Hyperion's Essbase. What's great about the book is that he provides a number of interesting comparisons between the two technologies. For example, the book shows comparisons in how the same use case is addressed slightly differently in the MDX that is specific to each product. I hope the book does really well.
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