by James G. Kobielus, February 2, 2012BookmarkPDF
In Forrester's 15-criteria evaluation of enterprise Hadoop solution providers, we found that in the Leaders category, Amazon Web Services led the pack due to its proven, feature-rich Elastic MapReduce subscription service; IBM and EMC Greenplum offer . . .
Early Adopters Embrace Hadoop For Operations And Customer Analytics
Experiences Of Big Data First Movers
by James G. Kobielus, January 11, 2012BookmarkPDF
Forrester interviewed three organizations that have deployed Hadoop to support customer-facing processes, the back office, and even their research and development operations. Although these early adopters have realized significant benefits, they acknowledge . . .
Enterprise Hadoop: The Emerging Core Of Big Data
by James G. Kobielus, October 20, 2011BookmarkPDF
Today's big data challenges require innovative approaches to extreme volumes, velocities, varieties, and variabilities of data for advanced analytics — and enterprises are increasingly turning to Hadoop to address those challenges. Developed as an Apache . . .
Case Study: Yahoo Pioneers Hadoop In Operational Big Data Programs
The Web Trailblazer's Big Data Practices Offer Lessons For Business Process Pros
by James G. Kobielus, October 19, 2011BookmarkPDF
Hadoop is still an immature technology, but it's rapidly evolving into an industry-standard approach to address the requirements of big data. Yahoo was the principal inventor of Hadoop and has been its prime mover within the open source community. The . . .
Enterprise Hadoop Best Practices: Concrete Guidelines From Early Adopters In Online Services
by James G. Kobielus, October 11, 2011BookmarkPDF
Today's big data challenges require innovative approaches for extreme volumes, velocities, varieties, and variabilities of data for advanced analytics. Increasingly, high-tech early adopters are turning to Hadoop, despite challenges with the technology . . .
Meanings Matter: The Semantic Web Enriches Data Management And Fuels Processes
by James G. Kobielus, July 29, 2011BookmarkPDF
Semantics is just a fancy word for what things truly mean. Historically, semantics has been the realm of geeky information management specialists. But for business process pros, process integration depends on data integration, which in turn requires agreement . . .
Telcos Tune Customer Experiences With Behavioral Analytics
But The Process Perspective Is A Work in Progress
by James G. Kobielus, June 30, 2011BookmarkPDF
Customer experience optimization is key to business success in all industries. Business process pros must balance process skills, execution best practices, and a growing set of tools for behavioral analytics to enhance the customer experience, improve . . .
Leverage Business Rules To Optimize Customer Scenarios
Case Studies In CRM Next Best Action
by James G. Kobielus, June 22, 2011BookmarkPDF
Many business process professionals have implemented next-best-action technologies to improve customer retention, boost upsell and cross-sell, and enhance customer experiences. Best practices for customer relationship management (CRM) next best action . . .
Case Studies In CRM Next Best Action
by James G. Kobielus, June 22, 2011BookmarkPDF
Many business process pros have implemented next-best-action technologies to improve customer retention, boost upsell and cross-sell, and enhance customer experiences. Best practices for customer relationship management (CRM) next best action are to align . . .
Best Practices: Next Best Action In Customer Relationship Management
Boost ROI In Multichannel Sales, Marketing, And Customer Service
by James G. Kobielus, May 31, 2011BookmarkPDF
Many customer relationship management (CRM) and business process professionals have implemented next-best-action technologies to improve customer retention, boost upsell and cross-sell, and enhance customer experiences. Some organizations have leveraged . . .
How Social CRM Benefits From Big Data
What Social CRM Means To Customer Intelligence
by James G. Kobielus, May 24, 2011BookmarkPDF
Social-sourced customer intelligence is a never-ending gusher. It's also a potential choke point in your social CRM strategy. Considering the scalability requirements, business process professionals who support customer-facing interaction management must . . .
Boost Customer Lifetime Value Through Next Best Actions In Multichannel CRM
by James G. Kobielus, April 13, 2011
Modern business is all about honing your predictive powers to anticipate the best move at every stage of every business process — both customer-facing and back-office. Leading-edge organizations now integrate predictive models,........
Social Process Guidance: Use Crowdsourcing To Drive Better Business Outcomes
by James G. Kobielus, Clay Richardson, April 6, 2011BookmarkPDF
Traditional process improvement initiatives often resemble top-down social engineering, in which management identifies re-engineering opportunities, processes undergo changes and automation by technologists, and management pushes new processes onto employees . . .
The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Data Warehousing Platforms, Q1 2011
by James G. Kobielus, February 10, 2011BookmarkPDF
In Forrester's 56-criteria evaluation of enterprise data warehousing (EDW) platform vendors, we found the EDW market increasingly competitive, as illustrated by tighter clustering of top vendors. Teradata, Oracle, Sybase (SAP), and IBM lead by offering . . .
Appliance Power: Deliver Advanced Analytics Into Customer-Facing Processes
by James G. Kobielus, February 9, 2011BookmarkPDF
Analytic solution appliances deliver fast business value. They eliminate some of the complexity, time, and trouble of configuring an enterprise data warehouse (EDW) appliance to your needs. These application-tailored EDW appliances provide business process . . .
Forrester's Data Management Reference Architecture
Align Data Management Roles To Create Stronger Business Value
by Noel Yuhanna, Gene Leganza, Rob Karel, Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, Leslie Owens, February 2, 2011BookmarkPDF
The continuing explosion in data volume, increasing numbers of business users, growing data complexity, compliance requirements, need to support global operations, and growing need for real-time access are motivating enterprises to get more control of . . .
The ROI Of Data Warehousing Appliances: Flexibility
A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Uncovers Continuing Value Through New Data Applications
by James G. Kobielus, November 10, 2010BookmarkPDF
Business process (BP) professionals implement data warehousing (DW) appliances to deliver more powerful analytics more rapidly, inexpensively, and pervasively. Unfortunately, some BP pros push back because they doubt that these preconfigured solutions . . .
For Business Process Professionals
The ROI Of Data Warehousing Appliances: Benefits, Costs, And Risks
A Total Economic Impact™ Analysis Uncovers Quick Payback And Continuing Value
by James G. Kobielus, November 10, 2010BookmarkPDF
Business process (BP) professionals implement data warehousing (DW) appliances to deliver more powerful analytics more rapidly, inexpensively, and pervasively. Unfortunately, some IT executives push back on DW appliances because they doubt that these . . .
For Business Process Professionals
Zero In On CRM HEROes: The Role of Social Network Analysis
by James G. Kobielus, October 22, 2010BookmarkPDF
A customer relationship management (CRM) highly empowered and resourceful operative (HERO) is anyone who takes the initiative to apply technologies creatively within business processes to make the customer happy and grow the relationship. Your most influential . . .
For Business Process Professionals
Zero In On CRM HEROes: The Role Of Surveys, Observations, Analytics, And Engagement
by James G. Kobielus, October 22, 2010BookmarkPDF
A customer relationship management (CRM) highly empowered and resourceful operative (HERO) is anyone who takes the initiative to apply technologies creatively within business processes to make the customer happy and grow the relationship, or it's any . . .
The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites Customer Service Solutions, Q3 2010
by William Band, James G. Kobielus, July 19, 2010BookmarkPDF
Forrester evaluated the customer service and support capabilities of 19 leading CRM suite solutions against 196 criteria. Customer service and business process professionals face a diverse range of products to sift through to support the quest to create . . .
The Forrester Wave™: Predictive Analytics And Data Mining Solutions, Q1 2010
SAS, SPSS/IBM, KXEN, Oracle, And Portrait Software Lead, With Others Innovating
by James G. Kobielus, February 4, 2010BookmarkPDF
In Forrester's 53-criteria evaluation of predictive analytics and data mining (PA/DM) vendors, we found that SAS Institute, SPSS (evaluated separately from new parent IBM's other PA/DM offerings), KXEN, Oracle, Portrait Software, and IBM (pre-SPSS acquisition . . .
In-Database Analytics: The Heart Of The Predictive Enterprise
by James G. Kobielus, November 12, 2009
Visionary organizations are adopting an emerging practice known as "in-database analytics," which supports more pervasive embedding of predictive models in business processes and mission-critical applications. With in-database analytics, enterprises migrate . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Business Intelligence (BI) Polishes Its Crystal Ball
IBM's SPSS Deal Nudges Analytics Industry Toward Deeper Predictive Focus
by James G. Kobielus, Boris Evelson, Leslie Owens, August 18, 2009
Enterprise strategic, tactical, and operational decision-makers want to understand past and present activity but also anticipate the future to avoid being blindsided by seemingly hidden events. How do companies build a competitive "crystal ball"? They . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Refresh Your Information Management Strategy To Deliver Business Results
by Rob Karel, James G. Kobielus, August 11, 2009
Many enterprises lack a framework to ensure business alignment with their information management (IM) strategies. Yet sound strategy is critical for prioritizing IM investments. Business issues driving the urgency for a revitalized strategy include: 1) . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Mighty Mashups: Do-It-Yourself Business Intelligence For The New Economy
by James G. Kobielus, July 23, 2009
Enterprise business intelligence (BI) professionals face severe resource constraints, and the soft economy keeps budgets tight. One consequence is a lengthening queue of user requests to develop and revise reports, dashboards, cubes, and other analytic . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Massive But Agile: Best Practices For Scaling The Next-Generation Enterprise Data Warehouse
by James G. Kobielus, June 3, 2009
Information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals continue to expand the scale, scope, and deployment roles for their enterprise data warehouse (EDW) investments. Today's most demanding EDW environments support petabytes of aggregated data, . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Migration Paths Are The Burning Question For SAP BI Users
by Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, May 13, 2009
The January 2008 merger of SAP and Business Objects created numerous opportunities and challenges for business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW) professionals. The good news was that SAP now offers several leading, best-of-breed BI and DW products. . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Data Warehousing Platforms, Q1 2009
Teradata, Oracle, And IBM Lead, With Microsoft Strengthening
by James G. Kobielus, February 6, 2009
In Forrester's 54-criteria evaluation of enterprise data warehousing (EDW) platform vendors, we found that Teradata, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft lead the pack because each offers mature, high-performance, flexible, secure, and robust solutions. Teradata . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
OLAP: In Fashion Or Old-Fashioned?
by Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, November 7, 2008
Online analytical processing (OLAP) is a core component of a complex business intelligence (BI) architectural stack. Even as vendors begin to explore alternative technologies for "slicing" and "dicing" large data sets, OLAP engines, servers, and models . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Implementing Your Business Intelligence Solutions Center
Mitigate Common Pitfalls To Optimize The Return On Your BI Investment
by Boris Evelson, James G. Kobielus, November 4, 2008
The increasing pervasiveness, complexity, and criticality of today's business intelligence (BI) applications have led enterprises to recognize the need for something more formal than a traditional IT support center to maximize returns on their BI and . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Federation: Sharpen Your Focus On Vast Constellations Of Data
by James G. Kobielus, October 2, 2008
Scattered business information permeates many enterprises. This disunited data often conforms to various schemas and formats, resides in sundry databases and applications, and falls under the purview of myriad owners, administrators, and business domains. . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Really Urgent Analytics: The Sweet Spot For Real-Time Data Warehousing
by James G. Kobielus, August 11, 2008
While information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals occasionally demonstrate returns on their real-time data warehousing investments, most business intelligence (BI) architectures continue to rely on enterprise data warehouses (EDWs) as . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Vendor Snapshot: Illuminate Solutions Breaks Through Traditional BI Barriers
by James G. Kobielus, August 8, 2008
Illuminate Solutions is a young Spain-based analytic database vendor that offers a compelling new approach optimized for complex, dynamic, ad hoc queries. Illuminate's correlation database uses what it calls "value-based storage" to greatly reduce the . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
I&KM Pros Brace For DW Industry Consolidation
Microsoft's DATAllegro Acquisition Is The Tipping Point
by James G. Kobielus, Boris Evelson, August 4, 2008
Many information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals consider the data warehouse (DW) appliance niche as distinct from — and a bit less mature than — the market for enterprise-grade DW solutions. There is still some validity . . .
For Business Process & Applications Professionals
Appliance Power: Crunching Data Warehousing Workloads Faster And Cheaper Than Ever
by James G. Kobielus, April 4, 2008
Appliances are taking up permanent residence in the heart of the enterprise data center — the data warehouse (DW). DW appliances — in all their bewildering proliferation — are moving into the mainstream. The reason? They are preconfigured, . . .
