Back to newsletter listFrom the TDWI Research Desk
Wayne Eckerson, TDWI Director of Research
Obama-Clinton: The Perfect Purple Person
Dave Wells, our outgoing director of education, coined the term purple person to describe an individual who is capable of bridging the business-IT divide. According to Dave, a purple person blends the "red" technical skills needed to build and deploy a business intelligence infrastructure with "blue" skills needed to understand business strategy, requirements, and directions. This purple person has the extraordinary ability to straddle the business-IT divide and guide a BI solution to a successful outcome.
The Perfect Purple Person
So what do purple people have to do with the current presidential campaign? After evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of all the candidates for the most difficult, unforgiving job in the world, I realize no candidate has all the requisite characteristics to succeed. But two candidates—Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton—seem like perfect complements. If we could magically meld them together, they would make the perfect purple person. As one person, Obama-Clinton would do a great job running a BI project—or perhaps even the free world.
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TDWI Executive Summit
Join Your Peers for an Exclusive Event
The TDWI Executive Summit is TDWI’s educational conference for the upper ranks of the BI profession. It is geared to BI directors and BI sponsors who qualify to attend and is co-located with TDWI’s World Conferences in February and August.
The upcoming TDWI Executive Summit, February 18–19 at Caesar’s Palace
in Las Vegas, features an expanded program to accommodate heightened demand
for the event. We’ve doubled the number of sessions by adding afternoon
breakouts based on the TDWI Maturity Model. Whether your organization is just
starting out or highly advanced, you will find pertinent sessions in which to
participate.
High-quality content and dialogue are the hallmarks of the TDWI Executive Summit. Rather than hearing this from me, listen to what some members of the TDWI Executive Summit Steering Committee have to say:
Jason Beard, director of BI at Wiley & Sons, says, “The key benefit of this event is the opportunity for interactive dialogue with executive peers on a range of BI/DW topics, both within and outside of a formal agenda. Peer networking and experience-sharing on how our companies use BI, what kind of issues we face, how we handle various issues, etc., are undoubtedly the key selling points.”
Chris Gentry, director of BI at CCC Information Systems, says that the summit enables him to “play a part in the BI ecosystem,” which, he says, “is unique and symbiotic, unlike any other area of technology.” Gentry adds that the summit is a great way to stay abreast of hot trends. He also has established contacts with people with whom he still maintains professional relationships.
Jim Gallo, a consultant and former director of BI at Information Control Corporation, says, “The Executive Summit has helped me to clarify my vision of what a BI organization and solution can become. I’ve also been able to cultivate a strong peer networking group across multiple industries—peers whom I can turn to in order to gain the benefit of their knowledge and experiences in a nonthreatening way.”
Hope to see you there! Learn more.
New Best Practices Report!
Strategies for Managing Spreadmarts and Integrating with Microsoft Office
According to TDWI Research, more than 90% of all organizations have spreadmarts. Spreadmarts are data shadow systems in which individuals collect and massage data on an ongoing basis to support their information requirements. These systems, which are usually built in spreadsheets, exist outside of approved, IT-managed corporate data repositories. Once created, these systems destroy any chance of data consistency and reliability.
The technical remedy for spreadmarts is to manage and store data and logic centrally in a uniform, consistent fashion and then let individuals access this data using their tools of choice. This report provides strategies for transforming spreadmarts into managed spreadsheets and offers advice on how to integrate them with Microsoft Office.
Download your complimentary copy today.You can also listen to Wayne Eckerson, director of TDWI Research, explain the report's highlights in a Webinar.
New Monograph
Complex Data: A New Challenge for Data Integration
Data integration solutions must grapple with two tasks that are new to most data integration specialists: integrating data from complex and nontraditional sources and assuring the quality of data drawn from those sources.
Download your complimentary copy today.
TDWI Technology Market Report
Data Integration Tools: Comparison and Market Analysis
Data integration (DI) is practiced in different ways, with different tools and techniques, in response to different technical and end user requirements. The dizzying array of options is itself a barrier to action. To help technical users clear the barrier, this report segments the leading practices, tools, related technologies, and suites for DI. Based on the segmentation presented in this report, a technical user should be able to identify a DI practice that's appropriate to his/her organization, understand what combination of tools and technologies is required, and then draft an evaluation list of vendor products that maps credibly to his/her requirements.
Download the Techchnology Market Report (for TDWI Members only)
2007 TDWI BI Benchmark Report
Interim Survey Results Based on TDWI's BI Maturity Model
This year's TDWI BI Benchmark Report evaluates interim results from TDWI's Benchmark Service, a 55-question survey based on TDWI's BI Maturity Model that allows respondents to assess the maturity of their BI programs. The service includes an interactive online chart that enables users to compare their benchmark scores in eight categories to those at other companies and filter the results by revenues, industry, geography, BI scope, and BI budget.
Download the 2007 TDWI BI Benchmark Report (for TDWI Members only)
Best Practices Report
Business Intelligence Solutions for SAP
Providing business intelligence (BI) solutions for a business that uses SAP software continues to confound many users because of the long list of available options and the inherent complexity of such an undertaking. Yet, organizations need to clear these hurdles so they can benefit from a BI solution that provides visibility into business processes supported by applications from SAP and other vendors. This isn't a new issue, but SAP customers need to revisit their BI solutions for SAP now, because many are old and need updating. In addition, new products and releases—from SAP and other vendors—have introduced more BI tool options.
The early sections of this report help SAP users understand the inherent challenges and available solutions for BI. Later sections discuss common use cases where SAP and non-SAP products are applied to successful BI solutions.
Download your complimentary copy today.
You can also listen to Philip Russom, senior manager of TDWI Research, explain the report's highlights in a Webinar.
