So what?

It’s easy to take things for granted, both in our everyday lives as well as in our jobs. And if you’re aware of this perspective, you’ll constantly run into reminders that you might otherwise overlook.

For instance, I ran across this article earlier today; to those of us in the business intelligence community, this article easily falls under the “Yeah? So what?” category. There’s absolutely nothing new in here, from our perspective. From the growth of advanced analytics, to what the article calls the “trend emerging here” in BI appliances…these are all topics we deal with on a daily basis. We take it for granted.

But in doing so, we run the risk of overlooking the key element that our customers and companies who can benefit from our technology aren’t always as knowledgeable as we are about this stuff.

For them, and probably for us as well, we need to take a step back and ask, “so what?” So what if you can build an appliance? So what if you can deliver BI on a SaaS basis? So what if you can slice response time by 80 percent? So what?

The answer is obvious, yet often ignored by those for whom the technology trumps all. It goes back to Solution Selling; understanding the customer’s specific pain points, and then designing a solution that meets their needs. So our approach to an insurance company about a rate analysis system with our Data Warehousing as a Service (DaaS) at its core isn’t about the speed of results. It’s about what they can do with those results once they’ve received them in less time, and how they can stay a step ahead of their competitors.

Likewise, the reduction in response time would be a key selling point for some companies, but may not make any difference at firms where there’s a more measured approach to obtaining answers and insights. (For that matter, there is a point where a reduction may not be worth any extra investment; if you can get your answers back in seconds instead of hours, that’s one thing. But would you be willing to spend the bucks to reduce your response time from five seconds to one? For the record, some would.)

This is true for all segments of business, of course. It’s not just limited to folks working in BI, or IT for that matter. (Get your doctors to explain what some of the jargon they use means. In plain English.) But the article should serve as a reminder to us that the advances in technology we marvel over don’t necessarily wow the people to whom we want to sell it. For them, it’s merely means to an end. And as vendors, we need to keep their needs, and their perspective, in mind throughout.

Helping Capgemini to deliver its new eBusiness platform "Immediate"

We're very excited about today's news that Capgemini has signed a six year deal with the Royal Mail Group (which include Royal Mail Letters, Post Office and Parcelforce). Why? Because the news marks the birth of Capgemini Immediate, the company's next generation eBusiness proposition which is delivered using a federation of cloud-computing services (SaaS, IaaS etc) and the latest open source technologies. And, as you know, Kognitio has been a key advocate of cloud-based, pay-as-you-go models for some time now via its own DaaS initiative. But moreover, we're excited about the new program and customer win because Kognitio has been chosen to be part of Capgemini Immediate. As one of Capgemini's 18 service partners, Kognitio is offering access to a WX2 data warehouse as a service and continues to ensure that WX2 is not just resilient, scalable and flexible but that it offers the high performance that companies have come to expect from an analytical database.

As with most as-a-service operating models, Capgemini Immediate enables lower up-front costs to minimize inhibitors to innovation, reduces wasted effort and costs. And that's a message that echoes very strongly with Kognitio's DaaS, so we are not only excited to be part of Capgemini Immediate - and thereby helping to make the Royal Mail Group more successful - but we're justifiably proud to do so.

For more information on the Capgemini Immediate program, visit the Capgemini Immediate microsite as well as its ecosystem page to learn more about Kognitio's role in the program.

Know where your data is - don't be in breach

It’s about to get that much tougher for companies either based or doing business in the UK. A new law forcing all organizations to publically declare data breaches will go into effect in the UK within four years. Telcos and ISPs will have to be ready even sooner; a separate law, requiring them to publicly disclose serious security breaches, takes effect in Britain next spring.

There are already laws like that in the United States, of course; 46 states and the District of Columbia have regulations in place requiring public disclosure, and the European Community has several laws pertaining to this issue as well.

This news hits at the very time that more firms are realizing the potential of the data they’ve simply been storing and allowing to languish in some dark corner. They’re realizing the advantages that can be achieved by actively analyzing the data, seeking trends and insights that can enable them to do business better. It’s not just big companies that are doing this; mid-tier firms are implementing business intelligence (BI) and data analytics strategies, using outsourced offerings (like our Data Warehousing as a Service).

With opportunity, however, comes caution: if the data is being actively used, there’s an increased chance for abuse, loss or accidental disclosure. Having deployed DaaS for companies around the world, we’ve been very familiar with that for years. And we’ve taken steps that any company would do well to heed.

Firstly, know where the data is: simply saying “it’s in the cloud” is not acceptable. You need to know where the information is stored, and where it’s being accessed. Moreover, you should establish clear policies that specifically state who is entitled to access the data, and at which level…some workers may not need the same detail that others require.

At Kognitio, we’ve hosted our DaaS clients’ data at our own data centres in the past. More recently, we’ve established alliances with trusted partners in the UK (2e2) and in the US (Hosted Solutions), which will enable us to store our clients’ information, knowing that security and other concerns are well-addressed. Our clients, of course, have the option of deploying DaaS in such a way that they keep their data on site.

Security is still the primary concern of companies considering a push into cloud computing; in some cases, those concerns trump the potential benefits. We’ve firmly believed for years in the power of BI SaaS, but have known from the beginning that the privacy of the data our clients have entrusted to us is paramount.

If you’re doing more with your data than simply letting it sit there, you need to know it as well. And you don’t need a US or UK/EU law to tell you that.

Get rid of the boxes, they're boxing you in

We recently submitted an application for an awards program sponsored by one of our industry’s major publications. The program seeks out the most innovative solutions in business intelligence, and groups the categories into areas such as data management, analytics, business process management and more.

Then, there’s the category called, “Other Innovative Solutions.” Which is where our client we submitted for the award falls; it’s a company that takes multiple mailing lists and uses analytics to clean the list in a mere fraction of the time that it’s taken in the past. Marketing folk will tell you that a clean mailing list is vital to their ability to do their jobs effectively. The data analysts who manually cleaned these lists in the past will tell you they’d rather suffer through root canal surgery. Our client’s solution, built on our WX2 database, saves companies untold amounts of time and money, and allows marketers to get their targeted messages into the marketplace more quickly, which means they can begin seeing the results faster as well.

Now, we hope we win the award, but that’s not the point. Rather, it’s that the most innovative solutions frequently come from those who aren’t willing to allow themselves to be categorized. Our client heard the frustration of its clients, and developed a solution that does not fit neatly into any pre-configured box. Hence, the “Other Innovative Solutions” category. Last we heard, they’re doing gangbusters business.

So, here’s your challenge: what have you done recently that doesn’t think “in” or “outside” of the box, but assumes there is no box? What have you done that will set you apart from everyone else, and leaves them trying to catch up with your thinking?

This isn’t a mindless exercise, of course: Kognitio has pioneered numerous initiatives in the BI/DW space, such as the development of an in-memory database, or the use of multiple parallel processing for data analytics. More recently, of course, we introduced the industry’s first BI SaaS offering, Data Warehousing as a Service (DaaS). Others, of course, have followed our lead, and that’s a good thing…because it validates our approach to the market.

Others will undoubtedly copy what our client is doing as well, and implement analytical technology to scrub mailing lists more quickly. But for now, they have a clear advantage in the marketplace, as do their clients. And they did it without relying on “box thinking.”

Get rid of the boxes. They’re boxing you in.

Listening to the client has always been a good idea

At Kognitio we've always believed that in most cases, business customers clearly show vendors the path to success. This isn’t consumer electronics, mind you, where an iPhone or iPad can change the marketplace, introducing a product that many customers didn’t even realize they needed. This is about companies with clearly defined requirements, needs and objectives.

It’s a given that the more information you have, the better decisions you can make…assuming the information is effectively accessed and analyzed. Which, then, makes this article from Computerworld about the growing trend toward mobile business intelligence not surprising at all.

The article cites an Aberdeen Group survey, reporting that 23% of the companies responding said they already have a mobile BI application or dashboard in place, with another 31% saying they plan to implement some type of mobile business intelligence within the next year.

The keys here are flexibility and mobility. Insight has always been a requirement…as has speed. So, those firms working to deliver mobile BI that combines them are listening to what their customers want, and they’re responding. They’re making it possible for companies to do far more with data than ever before, across a wider scope, from operational BI (“how many widgets did we sell last week?”) to more in-depth data analytics (“which widget sold best, to whom did it sell, and what are their future needs?”).

Powerful tools must be at the core of any mobile BI configuration, of course. From the front-end visualization tools to the analytical database at its heart, companies demand rapid response from these systems. And the tools exist today to deliver on the promise.

It’s not just mobile BI. BI SaaS offerings, like Kognitio’s Data Warehousing as a Service (DaaS), are delivering rapid deployment, lower costs and faster time to decision. All of these are critical factors in the way companies are doing business today; it’s up to vendors to deliver solutions that meet those needs. Vendors that fail to recognize their customers’ evolving needs risk being left behind by more nimble competitors that are doing a better job of listening to their customers. Companies that fail to implement these advanced technologies, meanwhile, risk losing a step to other firms battling for the same client.

Listening to the client has always been a good idea. In a fiercely competitive segment such as business intelligence, it’s vital. The proliferation of mobile BI is just the latest area where listening and leading go hand-in-hand.