Articles and more

August 7, 2012

The problems with BI development

BI implementations are stuck in a rut. This rut has short-circuited many small to medium size businesses’ (SMB) new BI initiatives.  And, it has thwarted existing […]
July 17, 2012

Riding herd on Excel BI use isn’t easy, but it’s necessary

I am interviewed in the article below by Alan Earls. Eradicating the use of Excel in business intelligence applications turned out to be a pipe dream in […]
July 12, 2012

Webinar: “Seeing Is Believing: Data Visualization for Efficient Reporting”

Rick Sherman will be the featured analyst in this webinar. Rick will discuss the need for enterprises to expand their BI portfolio and enable self-service BI to […]
June 26, 2012

The Scourge of Data Silos

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” [1] Over the years there have been many technology waves related to the design, development and […]
June 13, 2012

Report Governance is Key to Consistent Business Information

Much has been written about managing an enterprise BI Program and implementing data governance. Both of these are key ingredients to business value, but even with […]
June 12, 2012

BI M&A Continues with a Twist: QlikTech Acquires Expressor

QlikTech (QLIK), a leading independent business intelligence (BI) vendor, announced today it has acquired expressor software. QlikTech, with over $300 million in sales, was recently listed […]
May 31, 2012

Business Use of Predictive Analytics — Blogging from the TDWI Boston Users Group Meeting

I’m at the TDWI Boston user group meeting today.  Our first presentation is on predictive analytics and is titled “From FICO Score to Risk Score – […]
May 29, 2012

An afternoon of analytics

You are cordially invited to attend the upcoming TDWI Boston Chapter meeting. All BI and DW professionals are welcome to attend. Please RSVP. When: May 31, […]
May 7, 2012

‘Big data’ analytics programs require tech savvy, business know-how

Articles and case studies written about “big data” analytics programs proclaim the successes of organizations, typically with a focus on the technologies used to build the […]
April 18, 2012

The wrong way: Worst practices in ‘big data’ analytics programs

“Big data” analytics is hot. Read any IT publication or website and you’ll see business intelligence (BI) vendors and their systems integration partners pitching products and […]
April 6, 2012

BI training too important to skip

Lauren Gibbons Paul interviewed Howard Dresner and me for an article on training, which was published in SearchManufacturing ERP.com this week: Training is the final step […]
March 8, 2012

BI’s Dirty Secrets – The Unfortunate Domination of Manually-Coded Extracts

Manually-coded extracts are another dirty secret of the BI world. I’ve been seeing them for years, in both large and small companies. They grow haphazardly and […]
January 25, 2012

Prepare for the Big-Data Labor Shortfall

Where are all the big-data people? A recent front-page article in the Boston Globe raised this very issue. The article, “Mass. firms see riches, jobs in […]
January 18, 2012

BI’s Dirty Secrets – Why Business People are Addicted to Spreadsheets

Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are the top BI tool of choice. That choking sound you hear is vendors and IT people reacting viscerally when they confront this […]
January 17, 2012

Nerds Rock!

Nerds rock, and they are in demand! Love to hear it. EMC's Chuck Hollis says, of big data analytics: "The race is now on to acquire […]
January 13, 2012

BI’s Dirty Secrets

The overwhelming amount of articles, seminars, white papers and product announcements on big data, predictive analytics, cloud and mobile business intelligence might make you think that […]
January 11, 2012

Connecting the Dots: Misunderstood Dimensional Models

One of the debates one hears when designing a data warehouse  is that it should be normalized. Specifically, they say to use a third normal form […]
January 10, 2012

The Power of RAM: How In-Memory Changes Everything (DM Radio)

DM Radio is interviewing me on in-memory, details below: DM Radio: January 19, 2012, 03:00PM ET Register Most information workers know that Random Access Memory (RAM) […]
December 27, 2011

MDM Goes Beyond the Data Warehouse

Enterprises are awash with data from customers, suppliers, employees and their operational systems. Most enterprises have data warehousing (DW) or business intelligence (BI) programs, which sometimes […]
November 15, 2011

“The Briefing Room” with Rick Sherman and Information Builders 11/15/2011 4pm

Registration: “Convergence: The Nexus of Data and Process with MDM”‘ The concept of Master Data Management is truly pervasive, because it touches every corner of the enterprise. […]
November 7, 2011

Temporal and Bitemporal Data

You are cordially invited to attend the upcoming TDWI Boston Chapter meeting. All BI and DW professionals are welcome to attend. Please RSVP. When: November 16, […]
October 26, 2011

Connecting the Dots: An Introduction

When I teach my master’s degree classes I use slides to present the theoretical, and then use workshops to illustrate how the theory applies to design […]
September 29, 2011

Maximizing the Value of On-Demand BI for SMEs

You are cordially invited to attend the upcoming TDWI Boston Chapter meeting. All BI and DW professionals are welcome to attend. Please RSVP. When: September 29, […]
September 22, 2011

Data integration processes: it’s not the tool, it’s how you use it

In my discussions with clients, prospects, students and networking with folks at seminars I am always asked about my opinion or recommendations on data integration and […]
August 24, 2011

Seven Misconceptions about Data Quality

The narrow definition of data quality is that it’s about bad data – data that is missing or incorrect. A broader definition is that data quality […]
August 11, 2011

Maximizing the value of on-demand Business Intelligence for Small and Medium Enterprises

View my latest webinar on the value of on-demand BI for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). ABSTRACT: Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are just as concerned […]
August 4, 2011

A must to avoid: Worst practices in enterprise data governance

More and more companies are recognizing that they’re accumulating ever-increasing amounts of data but not necessarily gaining business insights from it. The missing link is the […]
July 27, 2011

Business or Technology: Who’s the Boss?

It’s time to stop getting bossed around by technology.  IT groups too often create their list of projects and priorities based on a logical and mainly […]
July 13, 2011

Two key elements to providing data and data integration services

Establishing and operating an Integration Competency Center (ICC)  is clearly an effective approach to breaking down the business, budgetary and political silos within many enterprises. These […]
June 29, 2011

When is ELT the Right Choice?

When I teach data integration concepts in my classes at various corporations or to my students at Northeastern University, one of the topics I address is […]
June 22, 2011

Pros & Cons of ICC Organizational Models

As we discussed in the last post,  the four organizational models most often used to implement ICCs are: best practices, technology standards, shared services and centralized […]
June 20, 2011

Data Integration Challenges

Data quality and data integration challenges are two of the biggest problems plaguing BI initiatives. Mark Brunelli of SearchDataManagement.com interviewed me the other day for their […]
June 15, 2011

ICC Organizational Models

You have the sponsorship and budget, now how do you set up your Integration Competency Center (ICC)? There are several approaches to organizing the role and […]
June 8, 2011

ICC – Sponsorship, Investments & Organizations

Some of my recent posts have discussed how people, politics and projects have established integration silos throughout an enterprise that are costly, inefficient and inhibit the […]
June 1, 2011

Getting Started with an Integration Competency Center (ICC)

In the last several posts we discussed how critical data governance programs are to the success of EDW, MDM, CDI and really any enterprise-wide integration initiatives. […]