BI for the masses
I read another blog predicting that Microsoft is bringing BI to the masses and that other BI Vendors are going to need to be more innovative in order to keep up.
Interesting, as for as long as I can remember, Excel has been the tool of choice for analytics. During the last 5-10 years, many companies and developers have created 'solutions' to help customers 'analyze' their data more efficiently. Many of these solutions are in fact built upon Excel and derive a vast amount of horse-power from backend servers like Microsoft SQL. Having worked in both enterprise and small business, it occurs to me that the Small Business needs BI sometimes more than Enterprise. Many are steep in BI, but that intelligence is locked away in the owners head or in a notebook under the secretary's desk. Few SMBs invest in the tools to help them take that BI from the notebook to the whole company's stakeholders. This is where the new Microsoft Office Platform comes in. On the Desktop: Outlook for communications and organization, Excel and Access for Structuring and analyzing data, Word and PowerPoint to share the knowledge. There's a lot more in it that I'm happy to share. Then there's the backend, and if you're a Small Business w/out Small Business Server, you are really missing the boat, especially moving forward. Office relies heavily on Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint to unlock the real power behind Office '07. Customers who have invested in ACT!, Quickbooks and Line of Business Applications press developers and vendors for 'plug-ins' for the Live Desktop Search. Why not Google? Keep Google at home. Microsoft's Live Search is integrated with the enterprise, even the small enterprise, delivering the right info to the right people in a safe and secure manner. And what's the big deal about search? That is the way Microsoft delivers REAL BI to the masses. It's contextual, it's safe, and it's accurate. This is not by accident, but by design. Most Small Businesses are inundated with Documents and Data that is redundant, old and inaccurate that they don't know heads from tails. For some consultants and techies the answer is simple…Add another hard drive, they are cheap and easy. The problem is that only makes the problem worse. Search helps unlock the 'hidden' gems of data buried deep in the nested folders on network drives. So rather than investing years worth of budget on a structured data application, simply invest in the right tools, and some training, and soon, you'll be a BI poster child.
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