In Search of Insight

Author : Charles Nicholls
Pages : 43
Publication Date : August 2006
Publisher : SeeWhy Software Limited

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From the Introduction:

We live in real time, minute by minute. News is no longer delayed by days but is streamed in real time. We bank online, and check our real time balances. We book flights with real time visibility of seat availability, and we select the seat we want, on line, in real time. All these transactions generate data.

Supporting the real time world is the microprocessor. They are everywhere, in almost every electrically powered device people can buy; from domestic appliances, cell phones, and cars, to the infrastructure we rely on for modern life. The next wave of miniaturization is already creating an 'internet of things' where devices and appliances are connected to the world over wireless networks, by RFID, each one constantly reporting their status. This too generates data - lots of data.

And to allow people to adapt business models to today's real time world, software applications are now built using event driven technologies. Data moves around in real time over Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), using loosely coupled and highly interoperable services that promote standardized application integration.

And yet Business Intelligence (BI) today has not changed in concept since the invention of the relational database and the SQL query. Until now.

BI 2.0 is a term that encapsulates several important new concepts about the way that we use and exploit information in businesses, organizations and government. The term is also intrinsically linked with real time and event driven Business Intelligence, but is really about the application of these technologies to business processes.

At the heart of this architecture are events, specifically XML messages. Ultimately most modern processes themselves are actioned by events. Consequently, when we think about how to add intelligence into modern processes, the humble SQL query looks far from ideal.

The traditional data warehouse has enabled significant advances in the use of information, but its underlying architectural approach is now being questioned. It's architecture limits the ability to optimize every business process by embedding BI capabilities within. We need to look to event driven, continuous in-process analytics to replace batch driven reporting on processes after the fact.

In short, how can we build smarter business processes which give organizations competitive advantage? How can we build the intelligent business?

This eBook sets out to answer this question, and to provide a roadmap setting out how we can get there. It's called BI 2.0.

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