Ken Davenport, President of PerformanceG2
 
 
This week, IBM reported earnings and the company is reporting a significant shift in IT spending with Business Analytics leading the way, click on the link below to read more:

http://www.crn.com/software/224400777;jsessionid=DG3ZBLH3I40ZBQE1GHPCKHWATMY32JVN
 
Also, here is an interview with Rob Ashe that is a must-read:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/20/businesss-analytics-oracle-technology-cio-network-ibm.html?boxes=Homepagechannels
 
And finally, Gartner is to name IBM as leader in BPM for 6th consecutive year:

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20100420-907753.html?mod=wsjcrmain
 
 
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By Candace Taylor, Marketing Coordinator for PerformanceG2
 
For this month, there are a series of complimentary performance management and business intelligence events, dedicated for you to expand your knowledge, to finish the first quarter off strong and stay on-top of the evolving industry. Check them out below, and attend!
 
Virtual Summit: IBM Cognos Midsize Business Analytics Virtual Summit
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM OR 8:00 to 11:00 PM EDT

 
Description: Join IBM Cognos and Advanced IBM Business Partner, PerformanceG2, for a complimentary, three-hour IBM Cognos Midsize Business Analytics Virtual Summit.

Whether you are new to business analytics or have been using it for some time, the IBM Cognos Midsize Business Analytics Virtual Summit can show you how to transform insight into action for better business outcomes. This virtual summit is the first in a series of quarterly, interactive forums focused on reporting, analysis and planning solutions for midsize companies.

The session will include:
* Keynote address- “Why Should You Care About Business Analytics?”
* Customer session and live case study overview
* Business analytics workshop: IBM Cognos Express
* Virtual expo hall, an interactive exhibit area- connect with PerformanceG2 here with any Cognos Express questions

Learn more and register
 
 
Forum: New Intelligence
Dates: Thursday, March 11, 2010- Dallas, TX
Tuesday, March 16- Columbus, OH
Thursday, March 18- San Francisco
Time: 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM

 
Description: Join IBM and PerformanceG2 to learn how to transform your company’s information into a strategic asset to optimize business performance. Learn first hand how IBM is changing the game by providing leading edge information management and delivery capabilities tailored to your industry’s ever-changing demands. Gain insight into how lead organizations are finding success using new and innovative techniques for unlocking the business value of information including:

* Business Intelligence and performance management
* Data quality, governance and integration
* Master data management
* Data warehousing
* Predictive, text analytics
* Data visualization, enterprise mashups
* Enterprise content management

Interact with IT and business decision-makers grappling with similar information management and business analytics challenges you face.

Learn more and register
 
 
Want instant event invitations sent directly to your inbox? If so, simply sign up here: http://ow.ly/19YDs. Or email us and we will be sure to include you on our event invitations.
 
Looking for other ways to meet those performance management goals? Connect with us at info@performanceg2.com or call 877.742.4276. We will work with you and provide options on the best BI, CPM, FPM, data warehousing, consulting and staffing solutions out there.
 
 
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By Candace Taylor, Marketing Coordinator for PerformanceG2
 
The February edition of PerformanceG2′s eNewsletter, InSight, is now available – this month includes must-read BI articles, Cognos TM1 and Cognos Express Webinars, as well as free upcoming events.

Sign up to receive our BI and CPM industry newsletter here: http://ow.ly/19YDs. Or email us and we will personally send you the most recent edition.
 

 
Looking for other ways to meet those performance management goals? Connect with us at info@performanceg2.com or call 877.742.4276. We will work with you and provide options on the best BI, CPM, FPM, data warehousing, consulting and staffing solutions out there.
 
 
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Ken Davenport, President of PerformanceG2
 
Perhaps nowhere is the promise of data analytics greater than in health care – where reams of data in newly evolving clinical information systems provide the basis for what could be valuable long-term analysis of cost and care outcomes. Unfortunately, progress has been hit and miss. As Jim Ericson, editorial director of Information Management, points out in his article “BI’s March to Health Care”, clinical health care data is heavily dependent on interpretations of care practices that change over time – particularly as diagnostic tools and medications improve. Thus, static snapshots of clinical outcomes at any given point in time may not have as much value as they would in other industries.

“We generate and use data like any other industry, but heath care does not lend itself to the use of discrete data because the outcomes are necessarily fuzzy and ongoing,” says Dick Gibson, M.D., the CIO at Legacy Health, an integrated network of six hospitals with research and other facilities in Portland. “Airlines have seats, schedules and know if you landing on time. In health care, we know you’re alive but the big money goes to broad sets of descriptive terms around patient care that are very qualitative.”

For BI and performance management to have meaning, these terms need to be unified and reconciled in their definition and accuracy. This can be a challenge in an industry that lacks standards and common data categories and definitions. “The challenges of data quality are multiplied by the number of codes and procedures managed in systems for lab results, pharmacy, check-in and other processes. Even within a single institution, the lack of standards, or ironically, the fact there are far too many, creates huge data quality and integration challenges.

As Ericson points out, however, “it’s a challenge providers must meet, both in response to consumer demand and regulatory interest in keeping down costs. That’s why information systems are increasingly required to bring a compliant and cohesive view to inpatient and outpatient facilities, right down to the bedside of the patient at the point of care. The approaches to meeting this challenge vary by hospital, with some opting for a single-vendor approach, while other turn to multiple software partners. The evolution of provider software companies offers an interesting comparison to other industries, which have adopted enterprise resources planning tools only to find the tools lacking. Nonetheless, the data warehouse in the clinical setting is here to stay.”

Read the rest of Jim’s informative article here – and see how he discusses how to implement BI effectively in a health care arena.
 
 
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By Candace Taylor, Marketing Coordinator for PerformanceG2
 
Join PerformanceG2 Cognos expert and Senior Consultant, Sanjeev Datta, for a complimentary, one-day IBM Cognos TM1 Workshop in Portland on February 18, 2010. You know you need a better solution for financial performance management – planning, budgeting, forecasting, consolidations, analytics and reporting. But during the current economic downturn, cost-cutting measures and making the most of existing resources have become the order of the day. This workshop will provide a pragmatic approach to embracing and transforming the use of spreadsheets for more effective financial and operational performance management.

Experience a real-time approach to consolidating, viewing and editing enormous volumes of multi-dimensional data. With patented, 64-bit, in-memory OLAP server, IBM Cognos TM1 is the fastest way to deliver immediate value to your organization. In this workshop you’ll learn the key concepts and functionality of IBM Cognos TM1 and build a simple, easy-to-use application for expense management.

The seminar will include:

• Understanding OLAP and multi-dimensional databases
• Creating dimensions and cubes
• Loading and managing data
• Defining business rules
• Building powerful end user applications

Register here for this free Workshop.
 
 
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By Candace Taylor, Marketing Coordinator for PerformanceG2
 
Join PerformanceG2 Cognos expert and Senior Consultant, Sanjeev Datta, for a complimentary advanced look into Multi-Dimensional Reporting using Report Studio. This Webinar will provide an in-depth look into Report Studio, providing tips and techniques.

Attend the Webinar to learn:

• Dimensional reporting concepts
• In-depth focus on dimensional data
• Applying calculations and dimensional functions
• Understanding member set structures

Register here for this free Webinar.
 
 
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By Candace Taylor, Marketing Coordinator for PerformanceG2
 
It’s simple, IBM’s Cognos Express is a cost and time efficient solution for those companies who have thought about integrating BI and Corporate Performance Management into their business plans, but couldn’t invest the time or money. Just ask Nucleus Research, global provider of research and advisory services. Their recent report on Cognos Express’s bottom line concludes that IBM’s “first and only integrated, one-stop BI and planning solution purpose-built to meet the needs of mid-size companies”, AKA a technology that minimizes time and costs.

So, what is “The Bottom Line” from Nucleus Research regarding their Cognos Express studies? “Senior managers who have balked at the cost and complexity of adopting technology such as business intelligence (BI) and performance management (PM) should consider IBM Cognos Express as a way to adopt these technologies while minimizing time to benefit, deployment costs, and support costs.”

Read the report here: IBM Cognos Express Notes and Reports.

Interested? Talk to one of our Cognos Express experts today, and we will let you play with Cognos Express for free for 30 days. And, we will give you 10% off the purchase of the software. Call us at 877-742-4276 or email us at info@performanceg2.com
 
 

 
 
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By Candace Taylor, Marketing Coordinator for PerformanceG2
 
 
IBM Cognos Software’s Marketing Manager Delaney Turner interviews Madan Sheina, Principal Analyst of BI Tech for the U.K. research firm Ovum regarding BI, Performance Management and upcoming trends in the current economy.

Listen to the podcast or download the script here: http://ow.ly/FWxb
 

 

 
 
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IBM has increased its strategic move into Business Intelligence in a $1.2 Billion purchase of analytics firm SPSS, Inc.  The move is designed to augment the company’s 2008 acquisition of Cognos, which established IBM as a leader in the corporate performance management business.

Details of the acquisition can be found here.

The acquisition of SPSS will enable IBM to deepen its competitive abilities in the strategic services business, where it competes head-to-head with SAP and Oracle.  Both SAP (with its acquisition of Business Objects) and Oracle (Hyperion) have moved to improve their analytics offerings as part of their enterprise-scale data management solutions.

For IBM, however, the acquisition of Cognos and SPSS are in line with the strategic objective of enhancing its ability to provide strategic consulting services.   The recent economic conditions have created an opportunity to use analytics solutions to improve profitability and efficiency, and IBM sees both of these as critical to companies in a recession.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the most recent financial results for IBM seem to bear this out — with the company making major inroads into analytics-based services business in health care, government and other strategic sectors.   The value proposition for IBM is that it can use its analytics technology to assist customers in managing their operations. The SPSS software, for example, is used by the Atlanta Police to assist it in determining which parolees with re-offend.  This kind of work is central to IBM’s “services-first” strategy:

Using proprietary software and data from from motion and temperature sensors, IBM tells railroads how to make trains run on time and utilities how to cut electricity use. Projects in the energy sector, transportation, water and health care are part of what it calls “smarter planet” projects.

“We look for the consulting arm to lead our entry to the client,” driving sales of other products, says IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge.

The consulting work falls under IBM’s Global Business Services unit, which grew 9% last year to $19.6 billion, or about a fifth of IBM’s revenue of $103 billion.

The following graphic underscores the importance of services now at IBM:

It is clear that Cognos and SPSS fit squarely into IBM’s future — making it clear that even in a recession, investing in analytics is a smart move for all companies!

Sanjeev Datta, Senior Consultant for PerformanceG2

With IBM Cognos acquiring TM1 (formerly Applix), there have been numerous case studies lately all over blog sites displaying how TM1 has helped various clients achieve phenomenal success.

Particularly, I found one case study very interesting: TM1 was used as a sales and reporting engine to feed the needs of a global sales audience – breaking away from the norm of implementing TM1 for a financial/accounting/budgeting purpose.

Microchip Technology, Inc., reviewed TM1 (Applix) and its competitors only to be impressed by TM1′s” in-memory architecture” which enabled
1. Faster Load Times
2. Faster Query Responses
3. Near Real Time Data

With its success, Microchip has just started using TM1 for its financial needs.

Click here to read more.

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