About UsThe Decision Factor offers insightful comments and observations on analytics—from views on new technology approaches and market dynamics to the latest industry trends driving demand for faster, smarter information analysis. This blog contains personal views, thoughts, and opinions from SAP employees, mentors, and friends working in the area of analytics. It’s not endorsed by SAP nor does it constitute an official communication of SAP. |
Posted by: Kaan Turnali May 23, 2013  When an organization is considering implementing a mobile BI strategy, it needs to ask/consider if its current information technology (IT) and business intelligence (BI) infrastructure can support mobile BI. It must determine if there are any gaps that need to be addressed prior to going live.
When we think of an end-to-end mobile BI solution, there are several areas that can impact the user experience. I refer to them as choke points. Some of the risks associated with these choke …
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Posted by: Frans Smolders May 21, 2013  Everything seems connected to the internet. From cars and mobile phones to the fridge and the lawn mower. The future of machine-to-machine technology seems inevitable as people demand smarter applications to fulfill their ever-growing hunger for new information and their desire to do things quicker and better.
In 2013, mobile devices outnumbered the human population, and some estimates predict that 24 billion devices will be connected to the internet by the end of 2020. This trend impacts the way we do business in …
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Posted by: Deepa Sankar May 16, 2013  Last time, I discussed how companies can mine their data gold by turning it into insight, which leads to positive impacts on your business, such as increased revenues, reduced costs, managed risks, and capital. These impacts give your business a better competitive advantage. Today, let’s discuss the other details of the other critical factors to make your BI program successful.
Define the Value of BI with KPIs
Defining the value of BI, i.e. assigning a dollar value to BI, is often challenging since this …
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Posted by: Kaan Turnali May 15, 2013  Is your mobile business intelligence (BI) strategy aligned with your organization’s enterprise mobility strategy? If you’re not sure what this means, you’re in big trouble. In its simplest form, enterprise mobility can be considered a framework to maximize the use of mobile devices, wireless networks, and all other related services in order to drive growth and profitability. However, it goes beyond just the mobile devices or the software that runs on them to include people and processes.
It goes without saying that enterprise …
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Posted by: Pras Chatterjee May 14, 2013  It should come as no surprise that the next mile of finance is upon us – changes are afoot in the world of budgeting and forecasting. Traditionally, this has entailed the finance organization accumulating information at a high level of aggregation from their business partners (sales, HR, marketing) and other cost and responsibility centers. This information feeds into budgeting, forecasting, and strategic planning models with most of the emphasis on revenues and expenses. But many of these models lack collaboration, clarity, and timeliness. In …
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Posted by: Deepa Sankar May 9, 2013  Previously, I covered the importance of a business intelligence (BI) strategy and how BICC becomes a key element of your organization. This time, I will cover details on the other critical factors to make your BI program successful.
Companies need to recognize that data is “gold”. To mine this gold, you have to turn data into insight, which leads to positive impacts on your business, such as increased revenues, reduced costs, managed risks, and …
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Posted by: Kaan Turnali May 8, 2013  Do you have all three layers of mobile BI security covered: device, app, and data? All of the convenience and benefits of mobile devices provide a particular security risk, complicating matters for the technology managers. When we think about the three layers of security in mobile BI, each layer plays an equally important role. Moreover, each layer represents a specific component of a user’s access profile. Therefore, it’s vital not only to understand how each layer completes the security picture, but also to make sure they work …
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Posted by: Scott Jeffries May 7, 2013  Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored three key activities to driving enterprise value through analytics. In this final installment, we’ll discuss the path forward.
Many times, the immediate need for business insight is scattered around the organization, and the response is addressed in isolation rather than as a company-wide imperative. Employees often perform their analysis in spreadsheets and resort to manual workarounds when existing tools and processes are inadequate.
Today, however, the requirement for financial and operational insight is growing …
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Posted by: Scott Jeffries May 2, 2013  In my last two blogs, we discussed two of the three key activities to drive value through analytics—gaining control of your data and delivering the right information to the right people. Now it’s time to explore the third activity—enabling real-time analysis.
Business issues are on-going. Companies must continuously monitor business performance against established targets to identify areas for appropriate action and further analysis. In addition, business users are bombarded on a daily basis with questions that require quick investigation. And many of these questions …
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Posted by: Kaan Turnali May 1, 2013  Of the ten mobile business intelligence (BI) questions I outlined in my last post, “Do we have an executive sponsor?” is the most important one because the success of a mobile BI journey depends on it more than any other. While the role of an executive sponsor is critical in all tech projects, several aspects of mobile BI technology make it easy for executive management to be involved closely and play a unique role. Moreover, although the CIO or the CTO plays …
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