Enterprises want business intelligence to become more mobile and collaborative, an approach that will empower more employees to work together from multiple devices.
It's off to a slow start -- today, in 43 percent of organizations, less than one-third of mobile device users leverage business intelligence, according to a new report on next-generation BI by Ventana Research (free with registration). Within the next 12 months, though, 69 percent of participants will use mobile BI, the study found. When it comes to collaboration, about one-fifth are using it now and another one-fifth expect to do so within a year, Ventana said.
Now, although not every employee within an organization is mobile, practically everybody can be collaborative to some degree, said Tony Cosentino, vice president and research director at Ventana, during a Webinar earlier today. Survey respondents plan to add collaboration to 14 functions; by comparison, they expect to add mobility to only eight, said Cosentino: "The entire org does not need to get mobile devices. Collaboration, on the other hand, is going to hit every area of an organization."
In the past, enterprise business leaders wanted collaboration tools that enabled folder sharing, videoconferencing, and instant messages. Today, managers want to give dispersed employees access to discussion forums, Facebook-like wall postings, and Twitter-like broadcast capabilities, Ventana determined.
They want mobile BI to improve workflow productivity; enhance BI or performance management initiatives; improve customer service; broaden collaboration; and increase sales. Increasingly, enterprises use tablets for mobile BI, adding to the complexity of today's bring-your-own-device conundrum, said Cosentino, referring to responses Ventana collected from a mix of job roles and titles.
"On mobile, they are looking to directed communications. On tablets, we need much more directional. We are seeing an increase in organizations wanting to centrally manage. In the future whether we'll be carrying around two tablets is an interesting question."
Global manufacturer and distributor Dorel Industries -- which owns brands such as Schwinn, Mongoose, Safety 1st, and Cosco -- needed a way for managers to gain better access and share critical information for timely operations planning, as well as create a unified solution to streamline planning and forecasting, as well as facilitate regulatory compliance. After an eight-month evaluation process, Dorel Industries chose a suite of IBM Cognos solutions, including Cognos Business Intelligence and Controller. The second phase featured IBM Cognos Mobile, which empowered executives with mobile access to analytics via their BlackBerry devices, according to an IBM case study.
As Ian Farthing, vice president, corporate services at Dorel Industries, said: "I've been to board meetings, and I see the CFO with access to real-time information that is fully up-to-date. He can talk about this division and that division, and this customer and that customer in a way that's a lot more confident, backed up by data. And I think that's very powerful."
When it comes to analyzing the data itself, employees are crunching more information from a diverse number of sources including locations. However, many enterprises have yet to act on location-based data, Cosentino said. That will, no doubt, change soon, he noted.
Like many technologies, adoption of mobile BI is partially stymied by security and network concerns. Sharing proprietary data with employees spread all over a state, nation, or world can put a company's information, customers, workers, and partners at risk. Operating systems, the built-in insecurities of mobile devices, and connectivity safeguards are key to ensuring mobile BI's success.
In part because of security concerns, in part because mobile and collaboration are so critical to the future success of their analytics implementations, and in part because of a relatively low satisfaction rate, brand loyalty is decreasing, Ventana reported. Only 28 percent said they are satisfied with their mobile BI solutions; only 32 percent said they feel that way about their collaborative BI solutions, the research firm found.
This provides developers with the opportunity to woo new customers -- and impress existing clients with new capabilities, features, or services. And mobile, collaborative BI gives businesses a chance to do the same for their customers, too.
I fully agree, swijeyakumar. I believe that until we focus on the user, and provide the tools and orientation as to what the technology can do for them, we will continue to lag in its use, and thus getting the ultimate value.
As Alison points out, we focus on the technology. We need to make the BI a natural process that they will use both from mobile access and in collaboration.
Brian, you bring up a good point. Is the return on investment worth the ease and immediacy of mobility? In the case of customer intelligence, there could be a huge benefit if, for example, the intelligence is used for revenue-generating purposes with customers. Case in point: A real estate agent out with prospective home buyers wants immediate access to information about comp sales, flood statistics, school district comparisons, neighborhood demographics including crime statistics, etc. to fully service customers.
I do agree that the lack of a plan is more likely the holdback.
BI is a pretty broad category. If it's specifically customer intelligence, I think that is happening on a mobile level, successfully, at many companies.
Is it the technology or lack of a good solid adoption and roll out plan that is impeeding adoption. I see many cases wher the money for a project is spent on tech & dev and very little on training & adoption so the implementation is considered a failure. I wonder what % of project budget is usually reserved for the rollout.
It does not come as a surpise to me that BI is lagging in the mobile and collaborative fronts. One Fortune 500 company I worked with only had BI in SAP, which is only slowly moving towards these elements. I think part of the problem with business intelligence in particular is security, but that is an issue that software providers are going to have to figure out. If they don't some upstart will come into the market with an innovative solution and steal market share - and the enterprise is a ripe market for disruption.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
As competition for top technical talent heats up, savvy hiring managers and CIOs are beefing up their internship programs to ensure they build strong relationships with the next generation of IT talent. One surefire way to attract the brightest new minds: Pay them well.
There's good news for IT professionals seeking new jobs: The employment market is looking up, with more companies hiring technology professionals or paying more to retain them.
Looking to improve medical results and enhance collaboration with developers, Kaiser Permanente released its first application programming interface (API) this week.
The media circus -- social and traditional -- will descend on central Florida next month, as lawyers, pundits, and the merely curious follow the state's second degree murder case against George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin.
Almost everyone agrees that data analytics, digital marketing, apps, and APIs will greatly affect their enterprise's results in the next 12 months. But a report suggests that not all large corporations are moving quickly to adopt these enabling technologies -- and that could seriously harm their profitability, customer satisfaction, and chances for ongoing success.
Elizabeth Pizzinato, SVP of marketing and communications at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, calls content marketing "the new black" and explains how her brand engages its target audience.
Linda Descano, President and CEO of Women & Co., and managing director of partnerships and branded content of North America marketing at Citi, explains her firm's marketing opportunities and challenges.
Big-data and analytics tools enable marketers to understand customers as individuals, identifying unmet needs and addressing each customer as a "segment of one," says John Kennedy, VP corporate marketing, IBM.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Big-data and analytics tools enable marketers to understand customers as individuals, identifying unmet needs and addressing each customer as a "segment of one," says John Kennedy, VP corporate marketing, IBM.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
Email This
