Technology News: Business Intelligence

Text Analysis and the Next Generation of BI
November 15, 2009

Text-based content and information from across the Web are growing in importance to businesses. The need to analyze Web-based text in real-time is rising to where structured data was in importance just several years ago. Indeed, for businesses looking to do even more commerce and community building across the Web, text access and analytics forms a new mother lode of valuable insights to mine.

B2B TeleServices: Bring the Right Intel to the Table
October 29, 2009

In research conducted among over 200 companies in 2008 for a reported titled "B2B TeleServices and Appointment-Setting: Less Risk, Less Reward?," Aberdeen Group found that end-user sales organizations relying primarily on external appointment-setting vendors for lead generation realized dramatically lower business results if the vendor deliverable was limited to simple appointments.

Tempering the Supply Chain With Better BI
October 22, 2009

Many organizations in the consumer packaged goods industry are experiencing a trade-off between the benefit of high product volume sales coming at the expense of extreme data complexity. At the same time, these companies struggle to maintain open lines of communication with their retail customers and distributors in order to better manage the upstream flow of product.

The Data-Driven Marketer: Show Me the Numbers
October 15, 2009

The role of the chief marketing officer has evolved dramatically over the last 10 years. The average CMO is on the job for just 23.6 months. The CEO and board of directors are demanding a new level of accountability from senior marketing leaders, which requires tangible justification for marketing decisions.

Filtering the BI Fire Hose
October 11, 2009

How can we make the most of Web data services for business intelligence? As enterprises seek to gain better insights into their markets, processes, and business development opportunities, they face a daunting challenge -- how to identify, gather, cleanse, and manage all of the relevant data and content being generated across the Web.

The Cutting Edge of Law Enforcement Technologies
October 06, 2009

Not so long ago, Motorola was hailed as the bane of criminals. "You might outrun the cop, but you'll never outrun Motorola," went the saying. The Motorola two-way radio was one of the first technologies to tip the scales in favor of law enforcement. However, it was by no means the last.

Continuous Intelligence: Where Message Meets Moment
October 06, 2009

Online measurement has become increasingly focused on the integration of online behavior with customer marketing touch-points. Taking a complete view of the customer acquisition life cycle will often generate numerous potential integration points that can be profitably exploited. The goal of every marketing organization should be to achieve consistent relevance around both "message" and "moment."

Think, Then Measure: BI in the SMB
October 01, 2009

Suppliers and consumers have tightened their belts under current economic conditions, sending businesses scrambling for cost-cutting methods. Small and medium businesses have turned to business intelligence tools in response to these pressures.

Bolstering BI With Web Data Services
September 27, 2009

The explosion of information from across the Web, from mobile devices, inside of social networks, and from the extended business processes that organizations are now employing, all provide an opportunity, but they also provide a challenge. This information can play a critical role in allowing organizations to gather and refine analytics into new market strategies and better buying decisions.

Memo to CIOs: Where to Invest Your IT Dollars
September 02, 2009

After a tough year of cuts, layoffs, and the pressure to do even more with less, many of you are facing the toughest fiscal environment of your professional careers. Can you achieve your key objectives in 2010 with reduced spending and a smaller staff? It is possible, and many of the answers can be found in your data.

The BI Outlook: A Bright Spot of Growth in a Gloomy Economy
August 24, 2009

One business sector weathering the current economic downturn is that of business intelligence. In fact, Hans Hultgren, director of the Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence program at Daniels College of Business, told CRM Buyer that business intelligence is growing and will continue to do so.

Distilling ERP Data Into Tasty BI Brew
August 13, 2009

Globalization, supply chain complexity, and commodity and currency volatility combine to produce mountains of business data. In the past, just being able to collect and manage the data was task enough, but now companies are looking to mine the data mountain to drive actionable value. Enterprise resource planning systems provide much-needed capabilities.

The Neverending Quest for Qualified Leads
July 28, 2009

In the past, businesses typically used lists of leads in a type of marketing strategy that Michael Port, author of "Book Yourself Solid," refers to as "interruption marketing." The goal was to get in front of a potential customer, book an appointment, and sell the product. However, that model is changing into "permission marketing."

Efficiency Through Outsourced Marketing: Q&A With Quaero Founder Naras Eechambadi
July 27, 2009

It may seem that CSG Systems, a provider of customer interaction and billing management software, acquired marketing company Quaero in the nick of time. The deal was announced at the end of the year -- just as it was becoming painfully clear that the recession was likely to be much deeper than initially feared.

Web Analytics: Deep in the Genome of E-Commerce
July 17, 2009

When e-commerce was hatched back in the '90s, it would have lived for a while without Web analytics, but not for long. It would have died a cruel death in its nest, hungrily watching as bigger, more traditional channels ate up all the nurturing dollars brought to the nest by its parent company -- except for one mutation that made e-commerce grow and thrive.

Spectral Analysis
July 15, 2009

My ride from San Francisco Airport to Redwood Shores, Calif., tells the story of my entire trip to the West Coast last week. Southbound on Route 101, traffic was lighter than I was accustomed to in my more than 10 years of visiting the area. Northbound, there was a five-mile backup, which caused me to miss a meeting later on in the city.