Recent TDWI research found that business analysts in a typical firm spend two days a week creating spreadmarts, costing organizations at least $780,000 a year.¹

This is what I'll be speaking about at an upcoming Pentaho webcast

Date and Time
June 24, 2010
2:00 pm ET, 11 am PT

Click to register.

The Details:

Spreadmart usage has grown because traditional, proprietary business intelligence (BI) solutions are expensive and difficult to use and business managers need a way to view important business data.  While spreadsheets are great for displaying static financial and related data, they are a poor and incomplete substitute for modern business intelligence.  Their lack of security, data integration, version control and graphic display capabilities means that users are often left with unsecure and inconsistent data and an interface that is difficult or impossible to use unless you are a finance professional.

This Webcast explores recent research on spreadmarts in a wide range of organizations focusing on:

• Spreadmarts implications on cost and efficiency

• How modern business intelligence solutions can save both time and cost while providing accurate, actionable data to business managers

• How web-based reports, analytics and manager dashboards can help your organization make more informed decisions based on complete and accurate data

• How your firm can take Pentaho’s 72 hour challenge to quickly see the power of all of your data in a BI solution. Pentaho will provide an initial proof of value, using a set of your own data, in just three days

Join Rick Sherman, co-author of the TDWI study, “Strategies for Managing Spreadmarts and Migrating to a Managed BI Environment” and Pentaho to:

• Explore the value of spreadmarts to business users as well as the risks entailed, such as resource costs and data inaccuracy

• Identify successful strategies for gradually reducing your company’s dependence on spreadmarts which pose high risks in terms of compliance, lack of controls and data errors

• Learn how modern business intelligence solutions provide better, faster and less expensive capabilities and enabling managers to explore the full range of critical business data rather than just view static reports

Register for this webcast now to learn how to start migrating to a managed BI Environment and save both money and time while improving business decision-making today.

(Note: Athena IT Solutions is now a Pentaho system integrator.)

¹Strategies for Managing Spreadmarts: Migrating to a Managed BI Environment, A TDWI Research Report by Wayne W. Eckerson and Richard P. Sherman.