Connect with Us

About Us

The 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.

Archives

Ten Mobile BI Strategy Questions: Security

Ten Mobile BI Strategy Questions: SecurityDo 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 …
Read the rest of this entry

Analytics: Key Trends for 2013

Analytics: Key Trends for 2013Business analytics has evolved dramatically from its humble beginnings in core data warehousing more than 30 years ago. It’s evolved from simple, decision support solutions to advancements in business intelligence (BI), enterprise performance management (EPM), and, most recently, intelligent data concepts and predictive analytic applications. Companies have embraced the value of analytics – solutions that combine data and analysis to drive insights – to help them differentiate, become more competitive, and make better business decisions.

A Pervasive Culture of Analytics

Almost everyone in your company can benefit from …
Read the rest of this entry

Ten Questions To Develop Your Mobile Business Intelligence Strategy

Ten Questions To Develop Your Mobile Business Intelligence StrategyIn my post “Mobile BI” Doesn’t Mean “Mobile-Enabled Reports” I articulated the importance of developing a mobile business intelligence (BI) strategy. If designed, implemented, and executed effectively, mobile BI will not only complement the existing business intelligence framework, but it will enable organizations to drive growth and profitability. 

For the next ten weeks, I want to chart a course that will highlight the key questions you need to ask before embarking on a mobile BI journey. This is …
Read the rest of this entry

Three Strategies To Get Started With Mobile Business Intelligence (BI)

Three_Strategies_to_Get_Started_with_mobile_BIIn my post “Mobile BI” Doesn’t Mean “Mobile-Enabled Reports” I highlighted two main areas that affect how organizations can go about realizing the benefits of mobile BI: enterprise mobility and BI maturity. Today I want to focus on the latter and outline high-level strategies that require different avenues of focus, time, and resources.

Before an organization can execute these high-level strategies, it must have the following:

An existing BI framework that can be leveraged Current technology (hardware and software) used for …
Read the rest of this entry

What Is Mobile Business Intelligence?

What Is Mobile Business Intelligence?You might have heard this statistic by now: more people own a cell phone than a toothbrush. In a Forbes post, Maribel Lopez lists a number of recent statistics about mobility. “While we could debate the numbers, the trend is clear,” she writes. ”The pace of mobile adoption across devices and applications is accelerating.”

Mobility is no longer a nice-to-have option. Instead, it’s become a must for many businesses. Many surveys support this view. According to the Accenture CIO Mobility Survey 2013, …
Read the rest of this entry

Can Small and Midsize Companies Afford Mobile Analytics?

Can Small and Midsize Companies Afford Mobile Analytics?It’s hard to avoid the topic of mobility these days, with the plethora of new devices available from Samsung, Nokia, Apple, and Microsoft, etc. What’s more, as bring-your-own-device (BYOD) gains traction, small and midsize companies (SMEs) are also looking at the business value of supporting mobile applications, including mobile analytics. 

How should your SME evaluate mobile analytics to decide if you can afford to go down that route? Or afford not to? Here are some simple points to consider: 

Do …
Read the rest of this entry

Why Mobile Analytics Is Critical for Executives

For any executive or business manager, I ask—can you afford to be wrong or late when you make critical or even day-to-day decisions?

In today’s economic environment, most executives and managers say they can’t afford to be wrong. In fact, the pressure is on them, more than ever before, to have the pulse of the business at all times and take more control of business issues as they happen. As a result, most executives are shifting from relying on someone else to keep them abreast of what’s happening in the business, …
Read the rest of this entry

The Convergence of Business Analytics and Mobile Devices

With the advent of the smartphone and multi-touch tablet, business people everywhere recognized the potential benefits of empowering workers with the right data, instantly accessible, wherever they are. That understanding is driving the first generation of mobile analytic adoption by industry leaders and helping us understand that we’re barley harnessing the power of this new form factor.

Bring Business Analytics Closer to the Action

A major criticism of business intelligence and advanced analytic technologies has long been that their use is generally restricted to a small number of people …
Read the rest of this entry

Mobile Analytics and Business Intelligence: The Gold Rush Is On

We’re seeing a huge market shift in business intelligence and analytics as users that traditionally employ laptops and desktops switch to mobile tablets. This has created a “Gold Rush” of interest in new user experiences and ways to deliver key corporate information to those same users.

This switch is completely logical. The primary user audiences for business intelligence don’t make decisions at their desks or behind computer screens. They make them in meetings or in front of customers and suppliers, critical moments when business is lost or won and …
Read the rest of this entry

Combining Mobility and Predictive Technologies — Imagine the Possibilities

Examples of the utility offered by mobile devices abound. My typing this blog on a tablet while at the airport is one. In the van on the way to the airport, I also caught up with Twitter and posted a tweet. All good stuff enabled by mobility—yet, there not-so-stellar examples, as well. People texting while they drive, answering phones when they should be turned off, looking at Facebook when they should be doing their homework (that’s for my kids), and on and on. I’m sure you have plenty of …
Read the rest of this entry