September 4, 2012

SAN DIEGO — Enterprise data reporting and analytics specialist iQ for Business today announced the release of a new software system that merges traditional data warehouses with commodity computing and cloud technologies to create a highly adaptive business intelligence platform. Called Halo Business Intelligence, the new platform can collect data from thousands of scattered sources, analyze and structure it, and then display it via the web as an interactive dashboard or graphical alert on a user’s computer, mobile phone and/or tablet. Collaboration tools built in to Halo BI let groups share and discuss what they see as well as make decisions and assign tasks directly from their devices.

“Halo BI is really about using business intelligence to enhance human intelligence” said iQ for Business president, Ray Major. “It’s about gathering all the information people need and delivering it to them wherever they might be. More importantly, it’s about giving them the tools they need to discuss the information, understand what it tells them, and make decisions right then regardless of whether they’re together in an office or at different spots around the world.”

The Halo Bi platform consists of three major components:

• Halo Source — The data collection and analysis engine at the heart of the product, Halo Source collects incoming information from a myriad of software systems and data sources, analyzes the data and structures it so it can accessed as a single information pool.
• Halo Rays — Are connectors that import and export data to/from Halo Source. Halo Import Rays can pull data from literally tens of thousands of software applications and systems from common line-of-business applications to custom in-house and proprietary systems. Halo Export Rays can send data out to other systems, applications and display tools including Halo’s own Prism dashboards, spreadsheets, reporting systems, web and collaboration platforms and third party data visualization and analysis tools.
• Halo Prism — Delivers interactive analytics dashboards, alerts and reports to desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets and any other device with a modern web browser. Halo Prism also includes a collaboration component called Halo Rings that allows viewers to share their dashboards, discuss what they are seeing and assign tasks from within the view. Halo Rings ties the discussions directly to the view, tags and time stamps the conversation so that users can refer to the discussion, the view and the tasks assigned and outcomes at a later date.

The Halo BI platform can be installed in a traditional client/server model, as a distributed cloud, or as a Software as a Service (SaaS) implementation. Developed on an agile platform implementation model, typical ‘from scratch’ Halo BI installations can be up and running in a few days. Halo BI also offers industry-specific versions for Manufacturing, Retail, Distribution, Professional Services, Health Care and Financial Services that dramatically reduce the difficulty of implementation in these typically complex installations.

“Business Intelligence and analytics tools have typically been expensive, inflexible and underwhelming, because there’s too much focus on technology instead of results,” Major said. These systems may be called “Business Intelligence”, but the truth is, software isn’t intelligent; people are. That concept was central to our design of Halo BI. We ignored the ‘gee-wiz’ technology-trend-of-the-moment and instead focused on building an open, flexible platform that does one thing very, very well — make information accessible to the people who need and use it no matter where they are or what kind of device they’re using. It’s a simple, but extremely powerful idea.”

Halo Business Intelligence is available immediately. For more information on the platform’s features, system requirements, or to request a live demonstration, visit www.halobi.com or call iQ for Business at (888) 300-0219.

About iQ for Business
Founded in 2008, iQ for Business is a global innovator in business intelligence and performance analytics software technologies. The company’s flagship Halo Business Intelligence platform is used by leading enterprises, non-profits and government agencies to collect vast quantities of data process it, and present it as informational dashboards and reports that executives and managers can use to make critical decisions. iQ for Business is headquartered in San Diego, California, and maintains corporate offices in North America, EMEA and the Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, contact iQ for Business at tel: (858) 565-4238, email: info@iqforbuinsess.com, web: www.iqforbusiness.com.

We have the current job opening for the right applicant:

• Position: Director of Channel Sales
• Location: Anywhere USA
• Reports to: Vice President, Sales – North America
• Contact: careers@iqforbusiness.com

Job Summary:

We’re looking for an enthusiastic matchmaker to be our Director of Channel Sales. If you thrive in a fun, fast-moving environment; if you enjoy finding strategic partners and working with them to develop new business opportunities; if you like new challenges and live to exceed expectations, then we want to hear from you!

As our Director of Channel Sales you’ll be a critical component of our growth strategy, responsible for developing and managing our industry partner relationships, creating channel campaign programs and working with partners as well as internal sales and marketing teams to ensure successful execution.

As the ideal candidate your key traits include:

• Self-starter with the ability and drive to set goals and solve problems without constant oversight
• Technical acumen in the software industry, particularly enterprise software systems and sales
• Accomplished communicator with excellent collaboration and management skills
• An ability to coordinate diverse internal and external groups to achieve common goals
• A passion and desire to work with other talented individuals in a dynamic environment

Essential responsibilities will include:

• Identifying and signing new channel partner as well as managing existing relationships
• Establishing channel partner sales goals and working with partners to achieve those goals
• Demonstrating iQ for Business software solution for partners and joint customer prospects
• Driving demand generation through partner relationships via co-operative marketing programs
• Assisting channel partners with, RFIs/RFPs and sales quotes
• Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) for the channel program achieving results

Your experience will include:

• 5-8 years of experience in creating and managing channel partner programs, including partner recruitment and 3rd party demand generation
• Demonstrated communications skills including written documents and public presentations/speaking
• A background working and coordinating with diverse groups including sales, marketing , product management, and executive management
• A track record of success in business software sales, preferably within the small-to-midmarket enterprise space

iQ for Business offers a dynamic work environment and great job benefits. To apply, please send your resume to careers@iqforbusiness.com

AXUG Summit 2012 provides Microsoft Dynamics AX users a unique and intimate opportunity to dive deep into Microsoft Dynamics AX, tackle challenges and learn from the experiences of other users who think and work like you. You’ll engage in interactive learning sessions, roundtable discussions and valuable networking opportunities at an event hand-crafted exclusively for Microsoft Dynamics AX users.

For more information, visit the AXUG Summit Website

Welcome to the second post in a two-part series on overcoming two common types of resistance to implementing a BI solution. They are:

1. The Dirty-Data Diversion
2. The Internal Obstructionist

In part one, titled Just Do It. (to borrow a phrase), I shared three essential steps for defeating the Dirty-Data Diversion. The core concept: never let the end kidnap the beginning. Just start! I also included some lively advice on taming the lizards in your company.

Now let’s shift our focus to the Internal Obstructionist. First, let’s define the term:

A person or persons, in some cases well-regarded and influential, who either passively or actively undermine the changes in behavior that a BI initiative requires.

That’s the stuffy definition. In plain English, you know you have this problem if the water-cooler conversation sounds something like this: “That new BI program won’t work for us…”, “We’ve always done it this way…”, and “That new initiative will make us have to change.” (Basically anything alluding to “change is bad.”)

What harm do they cause? Plenty.

1. They erode confidence in the courage and resolve of your company’s leaders
2. By claiming that change is bad, they distract attention from the lousy and worsening status quo
3. They cast doubt on corporate commitment to decisions based on merit, fairness and the greater good
4. Last but not least…they cause projects to fail.

Regarding that last point, software industry professionals will tell you that when Business Intelligence or Supplier Analysis or other types of technology-driven projects fail, software is very rarely the culprit. That may sound self-serving, but it’s true. People determine success.

Passive Internal Obstructionists are difficult enough, but the more aggressive and outspoken type present special problems. Specifically, their positive contributions may be very visible and easily measured while the extent of the silent damage they inflict is difficult to gauge. Here are two examples.

• VP of Operations at the most efficient plant torpedoes division-wide roll-out of Supplier Scorecards. Her plant remains competitive, but elsewhere material costs rise while on-time delivery slips.
• The top Sales Rep disparages and refuses to use a new CRM tool. Project dies. Result: poor lead follow-up, no pipeline visibility, no ability to forecast near-term revenue, competitors take market share.

They often do more harm than good. Most of the iceberg is under the water.

What options do leaders have when faced with Internal Obstructionists?

It’s telling that the first one many people think of is Ignore, perhaps because they’ve witnessed it all too often. Can we all just agree right now that ignoring Internal Obstructionists is the worst possible choice? Thank you. If you don’t agree, you can stop reading.

Isolate. In what way? For how long? Is there a risk of creating or perpetuating a double-standard, stirring up resentment, and putting people in roles they aren’t suited for? Will it feel like and look like punishment? Or perhaps it can be positioned as a case of “promoting someone to a position where they can’t do any harm”? Sounds funny, but it really isn’t.

Maybe it’s better to remove (option #3) the Internal Obstructionist than create an elaborate zoo-like environment that’s supposed to seem like natural habitat but really isn’t. In some circumstances, this is the best course of action.

There’s a fourth choice: Engagement. I believe this is the best option, and it’s undoubtedly the most honest. Have the difficult conversations at the outset of the project. Listen to their objections, but make it clear that the needs of the business trump the opinions of any person or group. This is not a negotiation.

Here’s a provocative engagement tactic that works with some Internal Obstructionists: make them responsible for an important aspect of the project or even the entire project! Turning a naysayer into a champion can motivate the entire organization, and the best way to do that is to move your Internal Obstructionist from the safety of the periphery to the center of the action.

Ray Major is President and COO of iQ for Business. An economist and statistician by training, he’s a life-long practitioner in the mysterious arts of data intelligence and analytics, You’ll find his blog here every week.

You can follow Ray on Twitter at @majorbi

Midsize Enterprise Summit 2012 will help you restructure IT re-investment strategies by providing you with content that will solve daily challenges, validate future plans and set your department up to maximize business capacity and competitive advantage while maintaining tight control over IT spending.

For more information, visit: The Midsize Enterprise Summit West Website

A few weeks ago I wrote about conversations I’ve been having with clients in the early stages of implementing a Business Intelligence strategy. The central ideas of that post were involve the end user; think big, but start small.

Unlike Sisyphus’ task, a BI project only seems impossible

I went on to say that the BI implementations most likely to succeed involve “rolling something out and allowing users to get used to the concept of using data and metrics to drive their behavior.”

What followed was this seemingly innocent statement: “Not everyone will be a convert immediately, so watch for resistance and address it as part of your strategy… Push, but not too hard, or you will get resistance.”

And that’s when the fireworks started. Or to be precise, my somewhat nonchalant mention of possible resistance sparked some great comments and questions.

Readers said that some amount of resistance is inevitable, and they asked for advice handling two types of push-back they had witnessed in the early stages of strategic business initiatives. These are largely cultural/people issues, not in any way exclusive to BI implementations, but let’s go ahead and tackle them in the context of a BI project. Here they are:

1. The Internal Obstructionist — This is the presence of a few highly-regarded and influential employees who either passively or actively undermine the changes in behavior that the new initiative requires. You know you have this problem if the water-cooler conversation sounds something like this: “That new BI program won’t work for us…”, “We’ve always done it this way…”, and “That new initiative will make us have to change.” (Basically anything eluding to “change is bad.”)
2. The Dirty-Data Diversion — This is the belief that there’s no use starting a BI implementation until the company’s data is polished, scrubbed, cleaned, pressed and folded to perfection. It’s the same argument some use to avoid going to the gym: I gotta get in shape first!

I’ll address the Internal Obstructionist in a future post. Today, let’s grapple with #2.

The evil genius of the dirty-data roadblock is its apparent logic and deceptive concern for company well-being. In a BI context, artful proponents of this argument actually appear to have the best interests of the company in mind. We don’t want the C-suite making decisions based on bad data; that’s bad for all of us. Let’s get it cleaned up first.

Of course what’s really at work here is what Seth Godin calls the assertiveness of the lizard brain. AKA the resistance, AKA fear. No one wants the bright light pointed at his bad data or poor processes.

And since no data-scrubbing project has ever succeeded, there’s little risk in promising a thorough clean-up as a prelude to a BI kick-off. That’s the diversion. Confucius might say it like this: “If you think you need to finish before you can begin, you will never begin.”

Here’s how to overcome this type of resistance in three steps.

1. Inject some honesty — Everyone knows there are data quality issues. Yes, even management knows. In fact, they’ve known for a long time. That’s not news. The point is to work together to improve the speed and decision-making ability of the enterprise, not place blame. This gives everyone who needs it some “cover,” and puts the lizard back in its cage.
2. As soon as possible start reviewing some basic KPIs in the new BI system — Embrace the fact that the data isn’t where it needs to be. Make reliable data part of the project, not a prerequisite. Doing this will help everyone envision the desired future and it will set the stage for some quick wins. And quick wins will unleash the dynamic duo of momentum and optimism. The system should be viewed as a catalyst for operational improvement, not a tyrant that demands operational perfection to function.
3. Meet often, especially in the beginning — In fact, consider daily meetings. More importantly, set overall priorities in a way that gives the team the time and the freedom they need to make progress between meetings. This helps reinforce everyone’s commitment to a successful outcome. In every meeting talk about how awesome life will be when the system is trusted and providing accurate information.

Nike got it right with its slogan “Just do it.” Starting has its own virtues.

Ray Major is President and COO of iQ for Business. An economist and statistician by training, he’s a life-long practitioner in the mysterious arts of data intelligence and analytics, You’ll find his blog here every week.

You can follow Ray on Twitter at @majorbi

The answer is – it depends.

For this discussion, let’s start by getting on the same page in terms of terminology around data and information. Big Data is synonymous with machine-generated data – it’s a byproduct of computer processes and applications. It’s automatically generated passively, without any manual data entry by an end user.

It’s the 40 billion photos on Facebook, or the million customer transactions Walmart collects every hour and uploads into their database. It’s unstructured and never modified. Big Data is a reliable, historical record that will account for most of the six fold increase in data growth experts expect over the next few years. There is tremendous value in that data, so no surprise that everyone is scrambling to harness it, albeit with varying degrees of success and rationalization.

Traditionally, business intelligence (BI), is what decision makers have always used to inform their strategies and tactics for growing and staying competitive. Organizations expressly develop plans and methods to gather data from various business processes for BI solutions. BI is highly structured, detailed, and valuable. But BI is also retrospective, and has its limitations as a barometer for future performance. Big Data may have similar limitations – the crystal ball is nowhere close to being perfected.

But the ability to gather Big Data in real and near-real-time opens up new possibilities for acting proactively to, say, engage customers who’ve had a bad experience with your product – get to them before they smear your good name on Facebook – or monitor Web site traffic for insights into why visitors may leave a page or the site faster than you’d like. Big Data can also help you empower more employees to make direct contributions to departmental goals, as can self-service BI and mobile BI.

Ideally, you would want the ability to join BI and Big Data sources simultaneously for the delivery of ever smarter, faster outputs. But with the shortage of people versed in deep analytics and given the mind-boggling volumes and variety of data coming from social media, context-aware mobile data, video and databases, it’s going to take a while.

As you may know from reading my blog, I’m a big believer in thinking big but starting small. The best approach is to start with specific business goals and let these drive the balance between improving the data you currently use for BI and adding Big Data to the mix. Developing a plan that lets you bring in that Big Data and combine it with your BI insights will unearth the hidden value in those assets without burying you in an avalanche of irrelevant numbers. Find the right balance between the two and chances are your customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders will all love you for it.

Ray Major is President and COO of iQ for Business. An economist and statistician by training, he’s a life-long practitioner in the mysterious arts of data intelligence and analytics, You’ll find his blog here every week.

You can follow Ray on Twitter at @majorbi

On my long drive back from vacation last week, my seven year old was watching Avatar on my iPhone. That got me thinking about how much visual and audio information she was missing compared to the 3d iMax version with THX surround sound.

It made me realize that using flat files for data analysis is almost like watching a flat 2d version of a movie, while using cubes for data analysis is more akin to the rich experience that 3d brings you.

There is no question that Flat files have some advantages: they are much easier to insert and update data. And for an experienced database administrator, flat files can be faster to search for simple queries. Since the data is, quite literally, flat (text fields, fixed lengths) – they are easier to manage because the structure is much simpler. When you have a small data set, and inexperienced users, flat files are easier to implement. They can also be produced without purchasing additional software – you can use any spreadsheet or word processing program that you are already familiar with.

However, while flat files may make it easier to insert data, it is much harder to perform complex searches. As the data grows, so does the complexity and redundancy in entering new fields and new records, which can lead to data inconsistency and insecurity.

Like viewing Avatar on an iPhone, flat files can be difficult for the end user to interpret because so much of the detail is lost. Since flat files exist without relationships, the end user must understand the relationships between the data themselves. They must imagine – and more importantly, have the knowledge to imagine – how each piece of data relates to other pieces of data – much like imagining what 3D looks like.

Cubes, however, give a much richer 3D view of the data. It may take more work on the back end to structure and format the database, but once set up, the user can themselves make complex queries that produce a visual result. The relationships between the data exist in the cube, not just in the end user’s mind. Cubes take raw data and transform it to literally show the user useable information.

Even better than just showing the information in an easily processed way, cubes allow the user to control and modify their own queries. They can play with the data – they can slice and dice and drill – performing their own analysis according to their specific needs at that time. Users don’t need to understand SQL to extract complicated information from their data. In fact, they don’t even need to have an underlying knowledge of database systems at all. Like the iMAX version of the movie, they can sit back and enjoy the complex relationships that exist between the data.

Of course there can be disadvantages to using cubes: sometimes you don’t need analysis. If all you need to do is store a small amount of data, it may be simper to use flat files. Databases take more time and space, and take technical skills to structure. For simple text files, like lists or static data, flat files might be the most parsimonious answer.

I think the key thing here, when thinking about flat files versus cubes, is that one must understand the difference between data and information. The iPhone version of the movie provided “data” the storyline was there, the characters were blue, but it lacks the richness of “information” provided by the iMAX 3D version. Data, on its own, is limited. Data doesn’t lead to decisions. You can have as much data as possible on your potential customers. But all of that data is worthless if you can’t analyze it and extract meaningful information from it.

Information, on the other hand, is the result of data analysis. Data becomes powerful only when we apply relational knowledge to it. In this way, data plus knowledge equals information. And information is what you need to make clear and powerful decisions.

When you look at the differences between flat files and cubes, it comes down to the choice between two-dimensional data or multidimensional information. Your choice is up to you.

Ray Major is President and COO of iQ for Business. An economist and statistician by training, he’s a life-long practitioner in the mysterious arts of data intelligence and analytics, You’ll find his blog here every week.

You can follow Ray on Twitter at @majorbi

Intell On Demand, a self-service web-based interface for your external parties, authenticates the users and enables them to tap into your data sources and gain access to the information they have been authorised to see. The unique system that lets your key clients access their own data in your system, simply and securely. A self-service web-based interface for your external parties, authenticates the users and enables them to tap into your data sources and gain access to the information they have been authorised to see.

Benefits of Intell OnDemand
• Secure access for your business partners (external) & employees (internal) without new infrastructure
• Centralised or Delegated administration – enable external parties to manage their own users, if desired
• Scalability to meet all the reporting and analysis needs of your external users, without the high costs
• Rapid development and implementation for fast start-up and roll-out
• Ease of use, with almost no training required by your customers
• Works together with existing BI technology

Too good to be true? Come to our webinar and we will show it to you!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 9:35 – 10:30 AM AEST
Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 11:35 – 12:30 AM NZST

Presenters:

• Asj Smith – General Manager, iQ for Business APAC

Agenda:

1. Learn how EnviroWaste, a large waste business in Australasia increased customer acquistion and satisfaction, reduced resources, and improved client relationships

2. Learn how you can utilise this technology to improve your customer loyalty

Click here to register for the free webinar

Now, after a shift from our US counterpart, we’re changing our name to something a bit different: iQ for Business. The change was made internationally to better reflect our impressive credentials and the quality of our products.

Now, known as iQ for Business, our New Zealand office will be aligned globally, so we’ll be well set up to continue bringing you the best, and most innovative BI solutions in the market.

As part of this shift, our website has also been updated, with revised design and content – you can view it on www.iqforbusiness.com. We will be rebranding all our products as well. The official launch date for the rebranding is on September 4 2012. At the meantime, please enjoy the teaser.

If you have any questions, queries or concerns about our name change, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your account manager, or call Brett Fraser at 021 428 800

If you’re happy to recommend us to your clients, associates or friends, then we’d like to say thank you! We’ll have great reward like an iPad2 or an overseas experience up for grabs. You will receive the reward if the business lead that you referred to us turns into a sale.

We’ll make sure you get a referral card in the next couple of weeks, but let us know if you’ve got a referral burning a hole in your pocket, and we’ll send one out to you right away!

This scheme is only available in the APAC region. For more information, please contact APAC Sales Team.

We had a great time sharing the latest news and updates, plus some exciting features that are coming soon! Of particular note was the new easy-view tablet app, which lets you see your info at a glance – perfect for taking to sales meetings or for checking in on progress.

Your time, feedback and questions about our systems were very much appreciated too. Our team came away with some great ideas for new features, and ways to keep improving.

We hope you enjoyed meeting each other (and the nibbles), and we’ll keep you posted about the next event.

BALTIMORE, MD – HITEC2012 Show – iQ for Business (iQ) and Cenium today announced a strategic partnership to begin delivering integrated Business Intelligence (BI) for Cenium’s industry-leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for the hospitality industry. Under the partnership iQ’s BI software platform will integrate with Cenium’s hotel and resort management system to provide advanced operations reporting, analytics and management dashboards to Cenium customers.

“This is a powerful partnership that will be a boon to customers industry-wide,” said iQ President and COO, Ray Major. “Cenium’s Hospitality ERP has revolutionized hotel and resort operations by simplifying and enhancing business information management at every level. IQ’s business intelligence suite will extend the power of Cenium’s solutions power by giving decision makers and managers the ability to delve into and visualize that data on everything from a desktop computer to a handheld tablet or smartphone.”

Both Cenium and iQ solutions are built on top Microsoft business software platforms allowing customers to leverage systems and data formats already familiar to more than nine out of 10 organizations. The common operating platform also makes advanced integration and control of the two systems less costly and time-consuming to implement compared to mixed technology solutions. Both iQ and Cenium are also Microsoft Gold partners. IQ for Business is a Microsoft awarded Gold Business Intelligence and Gold Independent Systems Vendor. Cenium is Microsoft Gold awarded development center and partner in the Microsoft Dynamics community.

“The growing complexity of business information and the need to make critical decisions at the right time, really demands that people get the information they need when they need it without a lot of hoops to jump through,” said Melissa Sloan, Cenium’s VP of Marketing and Business Development. Cenium’s partnership with iQ will allow us to provide our customers with better access and insights into their operations without adding complexity or sacrificing power and flexibility.

The iQ / Cenium partnership is effective immediately, and the two companies are already working together to bring the joint solution(s) to the the industry.

About Cenium
Cenium is a global organization providing a unique ERP (Enterprise resource planning) solution integrating management information across an entire organization typically employing a single database embracing property management, finance/accounting, production/supply chain, point of sale, and customer relationship management. Cenium is based on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV platform and provides the hospitality industry with a unified one stop business solution to information management. Successfully proven by chains and individual hotels globally with offices in Las Vegas, Toronto, Hong Kong and Oslo. Cenium is a Gold awarded development center and partner in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV community. For more information, visit www.cenium.com or email info@cenium.com.

About iQ for Business
iQ for Business is a global provider of information discovery and business intelligence systems tailored for small and mid-sized enterprises. Developed to leverage common business software systems and open technologies, iQ for Business frees non-technical users to do their own data-mining, analysis and reporting without relying on IT staff or proprietary applications. A web-based platform, iQ for Business can be accessed via any device – desktop, laptop or mobile – with nothing more than a web browser. Founded in 2008, iQ for Business is headquartered in San Diego, California, and maintains corporate offices in North America, EMEA and the Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, contact iQ for Business at tel: (858) 565-4238, email: info@iqforbuinsess.com, web: www.iqforbusiness.com

Media Contacts

This past week, I spent a considerable amount of time with clients who are in the early stages of implementing a Business Intelligence Strategy. What I learned was interesting and reminded me of an old Hungarian saying my mom used to use – “Ahány ház, annyi szokás.” Knowing that many of you probably don’t read Hungarian, in English this translates to “There are as many customs as there are houses.”

So what does this have to do with BI strategies you ask? Well it seems from all my conversations that “there are as many BI implementation strategies as there are companies.” That got me thinking, is there one “right” strategy to implement BI? I don’t really think so. Just as each household is unique, and has its own set of customs, so is each business.

Each business, has its own set of needs and challenges, and requires a unique BI implementation strategy. With that said, there are some commonalities that I think make life a little easier for everyone involved in rolling out a BI solution.

My advice: involve the end user; think big, but start small.

So let’s involve the user. There is so much awesomeness that can be gained from a well-executed BI solution. Like planning a group vacation, everyone has great ideas, experiences from the past, and most importantly, expectations of what the vacation will be like. Hearing what the people who will ultimately be impacted have to say, and involving them early is a key critical success factor in any BI implementation. Allowing the users to have input early in the process creates buy-in and ultimately lays the foundation for a successful BI rollout.

The drawback of involving the user community in the definition of the BI system is that you will end up with more (waaay more) ideas than can be implemented in an initial roll out. This, however, can be leveraged into the “think big” part. Allowing input from various departments, and involving end users and working with a BI expert creates a big picture view of how BI could ultimately benefit the organization. This will be different for every company, because each company has its own set of challenges and personalities. Vet and prioritize these requirements, and identify a few key problems that can be solved relatively simply.

This is where you start small. Roll something out and allow users to get used to the concept of using data and metrics to drive their behavior. Not everyone will be a convert immediately, so watch for resistance and address it as part of your strategy. Each business will have its own pace at which it can adopt and absorb new technologies and ways of thinking.

Push, but not too hard, or you will get resistance. Orchestrate some quick wins with some simple analytics. You’ve seen the sign by the bathroom in many big box hardware stores “This establishment accident free for (fill in the blank) days.” This, by golly, is a simple KPI metric used to measure site safety. Just posting this helps change employee behavior.

Once you start to realize the benefits from the simple analytics, you can start to roll out the more complex ones; metrics that will be used for strategic or long term planning purposes.

One idea might be to replace the reliance on spreadsheets, which by their nature contain errors and provide different answers to the same question, with a tool that allows everyone to see the same data at the same time (i.e., “one version of the truth”).

To avoid disappointment, plan on a BI strategy full roll out to take not just a few months, but more in the range of 1-2 years. Provide new capabilities in stages, or phases. This allows your users to acclimate to the new way of doing business, and provide feedback on a contained functionality set. Massive implementations tend to require a tremendous amount of staff effort, and often create more problems than they solve. A phased approach can also help with business continuity and keep everything running smoothly.

Ray Major is President and COO of iQ for Business. An economist and statistician by training, he’s a life-long practitioner in the mysterious arts of data intelligence and analytics, You’ll find his blog here every week.

You can follow Ray on Twitter at @majorbi

Okay, so you’re ready to start using Business Intelligence to run your company because everyone else is and it only makes sense that you do too. You’ve heard that BI improves decision making, helps your company be more profitable and allows you increase efficiencies.

Good news: it does all that and more. So where do you start? Well, first of all let’s understand what Business Intelligence means.

Part of the difficulty in defining BI is that it’s become a catch-all phrase describing a system rather than an end result. A BI “system” isn’t a single application or analysis, or even a type of data. When most people refer to a BI system, they’re usually talking about a bunch of methodologies, software applications and tools used to organize and analyze data.

Let’s ignore mechanics of the system and consider the effects of the system, the end result of which, gives us the useful information we need.

Basically, your company has spent — and continues to spend — a ton of money collecting tons of data. Some of it relevant, some of it not. It seems logical that this data should be leveraged as an asset, and some sense made of it. Intuitively, this would help your business be more successful. If you think about it, the data itself is really of little value. Being able to convert the data into something that can be interpreted and acted upon is what makes it valuable. As an example, let’s consider the following scenario:

“212″ is a piece of data. In and of itself it is not very useful. But if we can interpret that data as the boiling point of water, then, we can use that knowledge to our benefit. For example, if the water is 212° Fahrenheit (knowledge), do not put you hand in it (action). Awesome. Data has just been converted into useful, actionable information. So “actionable information” is what we want to create from data.

Now within your company there are lots of people, and they all need this actionable information. To make matters more complicated, each of the people, or groups of people, are probably interested in different data. If you consider how much data your company has collected, you’ll realize there’s so much of it — mostly diverse and fragmented — that it’s highly unlikely everybody needs (or even wants) access to all of it. So at the end of the day, getting the right information to the right person in timely manner and in the right format is critical.

And that’s what Business Intelligence is.

Not just converting data into actionable information; but getting the right information into the hands of the right people at the right time in the right format.

Ray Major is President and COO of iQ for Business. An economist and statistician by training, he’s a life-long practitioner in the mysterious arts of data intelligence and analytics, You’ll find his blog here every week.

You can follow Ray on Twitter at @majorbi

Join us for Collaboarate 12, where three major independent users groups — IOUG, OAUG and Quest — join forces to offer in-depth education and networking opportunities for Oracle Applications users.

Visit us in Booth #546 at Shorelines A, Level 2 in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center
Full details are available at http://collaborate.oaug.org/exhibitors/search

Join us for Collaboarate 12, where three major independent users groups — IOUG, OAUG and Quest — join forces to offer in-depth education and networking opportunities for Oracle Applications users.

Visit us in Booth #546 at Shorelines A, Level 2 in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center
Full details are available at http://collaborate.oaug.org/exhibitors/search

Location: Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, LA

The summit’s focus—enabling strategic IT Decision-Making—embraces midmarket-specific issues, trends and solutions from a horizontal and vertical industry-specific perspective. The business-intensive format includes analyst-led sessions, vendor-led World Premiere and Private Boardroom Appointments, a Showcase of Exhibits, and networking functions

For more information visit:

http://www.everythingchannelevents.com/mese12

Join iQ for Business at the Midmarket CIO Forum in Orlando, FL
For more information visit: http://www.midmarketcioforum.com/

Location: Renaissance Austin Hotel, Austin, TX

Prime Advantage Spring Conference is the time for Members and Endorsed Suppliers to reach out and strengthen business relationships, identify savings and selling opportunities, and assess market dynamics in an ideal networking environment among professionals. For Members, the Spring Conference affords you a tremendous opportunity to impact the cost, quality, and performance of your supply chain. For Endorsed Suppliers, there is no better venue to develop and deepen your market penetration and strategic partnering.

For more information visit:

http://www.primeadvantage.com/Conference/2012spring/index.jsp

Join us for Collaboarate 12, where three major independent users groups — IOUG, OAUG and Quest — join forces to offer in-depth education and networking opportunities for Oracle Applications users.

Visit us in Booth #546 at Shorelines A, Level 2 in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center
Full details are available at http://collaborate.oaug.org/exhibitors/search

Join us for Collaboarate 12, where three major independent users groups — IOUG, OAUG and Quest — join forces to offer in-depth education and networking opportunities for Oracle Applications users.

Visit us in Booth #546 at Shorelines A, Level 2 in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center
Full details are available at http://collaborate.oaug.org/exhibitors/search

Location: Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, LA

The summit’s focus—enabling strategic IT Decision-Making—embraces midmarket-specific issues, trends and solutions from a horizontal and vertical industry-specific perspective. The business-intensive format includes analyst-led sessions, vendor-led World Premiere and Private Boardroom Appointments, a Showcase of Exhibits, and networking functions

For more information visit:

http://www.everythingchannelevents.com/mese12

Location: Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, LA

The summit’s focus—enabling strategic IT Decision-Making—embraces midmarket-specific issues, trends and solutions from a horizontal and vertical industry-specific perspective. The business-intensive format includes analyst-led sessions, vendor-led World Premiere and Private Boardroom Appointments, a Showcase of Exhibits, and networking functions

For more information visit:

http://www.everythingchannelevents.com/mese12

Location: Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, LA

The summit’s focus—enabling strategic IT Decision-Making—embraces midmarket-specific issues, trends and solutions from a horizontal and vertical industry-specific perspective. The business-intensive format includes analyst-led sessions, vendor-led World Premiere and Private Boardroom Appointments, a Showcase of Exhibits, and networking functions

For more information visit:

http://www.everythingchannelevents.com/mese12

Join iQ for Business at the Midmarket CIO Forum in Orlando, FL
For more information visit: http://www.midmarketcioforum.com/

Join iQ for Business at the Midmarket CIO Forum in Orlando, FL
For more information visit: http://www.midmarketcioforum.com/

You’re invited to join iQ for Business for a free Lunch & Learn during Microsoft Convergence 2012 in Houston. See how iQ for Business customers are integrating Microsoft Dynamics data with their other systems to provide valuable business insights and make better business decisions.

SAN DIEGO and SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – iQ for Business (iQ) and Visus LLC today announced they have entered into a strategic software sales and support partnership to bring Business Intelligence systems to mid-market enterprises. Under the agreement, the two companies will work together on the delivery and implementation of iQ Business Intelligence (BI) systems at customer sites in North America. iQ will provide the software platform and initial systems integration while Visus LLC will provide customization and long term product support.

“This partnership is a great fit for both companies,” said iQ for Business president and chief operating officer, Ray Major. “We’re a software developer with a core competency in high end BI systems built on the Microsoft platform; Visus’ expertise is in taking these systems, tailoring them to fit customer needs, and providing long term service and support.”

Founded in 2008, iQ for Business develops software products that let businesses combine financial, production, sales and general business data stored throughout the organization and analyze it in ways that aren’t possible with one system alone. Its iQ Business Intelligence system is deployed primarily in enterprises with $50 million to $1 billion in revenue and used by a broad spectrum of personnel, from mainline technical staff to high level executives.

“BI is an area in which we have great passion and expertise,” said Visus LLC Chief Executive, Michael Daoud. “The growing complexity of business systems, big data, and the workload it places on already taxed IT staffs almost demands that a business intelligence system be put in place for organizations to make better business decisions. We were introduced to iQ for Business by a large client we have in common and were immediately impressed by the software. This was a company we knew we could partner with,” he said.

Visus LLC was founded by Daoud in 1994. Visus LLC is a thriving consulting and enterprise software solutions firm that helps mid-sized organizations create and implement software systems tailored for their operations. Visus LLC’s unique process and approach to software development and implementation has allowed it to deliver successful solutions to its customers and earned it highly-regarded reputation among some of the largest and most successful organizations and government agencies in the United States.

iQ and Visus LLC’s partnership is effective immediately. The two companies plan on making a number of additional announcements regarding their cooperation in the coming months.

About Visus LLC
Visus LLC is an enterprise software solutions company that provides expertise in three areas of information technology: Microsoft .NET application development, Business Intelligence, and Microsoft SharePoint . Founded in 1994, the company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and serves customers throughout North America. For more information contact Visus LLC at tel: 888-998-4787, email: info@visusllc.com, web: www.visusllc.com.

About iQ for Business
iQ for Business is a global provider of information discovery and business intelligence systems tailored for small and mid-sized enterprises. Developed to leverage common business software systems and open technologies, iQ for Business frees non-technical users to do their own data-mining, analysis and reporting without relying on IT staff or proprietary applications. A web-based platform, iQ for Business can be accessed via any device – desktop, laptop or mobile – with nothing more than a web browser. Founded in 2008, iQ for Business is headquartered in San Diego, California, and maintains corporate offices in North America, EMEA and the Asia-Pacific regions. For more information, contact iQ for Business at tel: (858) 565-4238, email: info@iqforbuinsess.com, web: www.iqforbusiness.com.

Media Contact

Aaron Simon
Media & Communications Liaison
iQ for Business Software
t: (858) 565-4238 x207
e: aaron.simon@iqforbusiness.com

Research reveals how costly and error prone spreadsheet based planning is:
• Average time to complete: 4 months*
• Percent of management time consumed: 20-30%*
• Percent of spreadsheet models with significant errors: 90%**

If you’re still using spreadsheets to deliver budgets and forecasts, you’re probably experiencing most of these problems:
• Lengthy and arduous task
• Inaccurate data
• Constant revisions
• Inefficient and problematic workflow
• Tedious consolidation process
• Error-prone applications
• Difficult to maintain
• Impossible to involve all key players

Why iQ for Business is vital to your enterprise:

iQ for Business provides web based technology that increases the efficiency of your planning and forecasting cycles without high up-front costs. The iQ Budgeting and Planning module makes it easy to update and consolidate forecasts in real time, quickly assess currency fluctuation, and provide reports to management users at the right time, wherever they are. This powerful Business Intelligence solution allows you to regain control of all things budgeting and forecasting!

Time: 7th November 2012

Day: Wednesday

Time: 12.00 pm – 1.00 pm (Sydney Time)

iQ Webinar Series returns May 16, 2012

We’re pleased to announce the return of iQ for Business’ weekly webinar series, hosted by our in-house BI experts, Andy Chase and Brandon Kirby.

Each week they’ll be delving into a multitude of topics regarding what’s up in Business Intelligence and how iQ for business software and solutions can help your organization reach the next level.

Kicking off the new season, our first couple of webinars will focus on Microsoft’s popular Dynamics business software systems and how iQ’s technology makes turning all that Dynamics data into intelligence a breeze.

You’ll learn how iQ leverages the Microsoft tools you’re already using to combine data from across your organization and detailed reports and flexible dashboards without needing to run to your IT department.

What’s more, you’ll see how iQ’s powerful automation tools can build fully functional BI cubes in just days, not months, and how iQs simple interface can make just about anyone a BI pro in four basic steps.

The webinar series begins this Wednesday, May 16 at 11am Pacific Time. To see the upcoming schedule and register for a session, simply click here.

HOUSTON, Convergence 2012 – Mid-market enterprise software developers iQ for Business and OLAP Office announced today they have teamed to extend Business Intelligence to the finance department. The new software offering, iQ Budgeting and Planning allows financial personnel to interact with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business intelligence (BI) systems, delivering the “one version of the truth” often sought, but rarely delivered across enterprise data repositories.

“Budgeting and planning are critical processes that affect the entire enterprise,” said iQ for Business president Ray Major. “Unfortunately, they’re rarely integrated with the other mainline enterprise systems leading to multiple sets of numbers that don’t match and creating a whole new set of problems. Adding OLAP Office’s financial tools to our BI suite eliminates that problem. Now everyone can work with and act on the same data set,” Major said.

The new solution works by giving financial personnel direct access to data that normally requires multiple steps or inter-departmental requests to acquire. The iQ for Business DataServer aggregates information from disparate enterprise tools like ERP and CRM systems, and the OLAP Office technology lets users access it from the familiar environs of Microsoft Excel. Because iQ Budgeting and Planning provides complete data extraction and write-back functionality, financial processes, workflow and data never fall out of step with other enterprise systems.

“Our goal was to fill in a glaring gap in business intelligence systems by giving finance staffers access to the same data the rest of the enterprise is using to make decisions,” Major said. “With a familiar Excel-based interface and full write capabilities in an out of DataServer, we think iQ Planning and Budgeting accomplishes this quite nicely.”

The iQ Planning and Budgeting module for the iQ for Business BI suite is available immediately. For more information, contact iQ for Business via telephone at (858) 565-4238, via email: info@iqforbuinsess.com, or on the web at web: www.iqforbusiness.com.

About OLAP Office
OLAP Office™ is a niche provider of fast, efficient, management solutions through OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) technology. The company, a leading team in this field internationally, is focused on the design, implementation, training and support of Microsoft’s Analysis Services (OLAP) solutions to a world-wide client base. OLAP Office consultants have been involved in the OLAP market since early 1991 and have worked with numerous leading OLAP products. For more information, contact tel: +1 (919) 213-1110, email: olapsoftware@msn.com, web: www.olapoffice.com.

About iQ for Business
iQ for Business is a global provider of information discovery and business intelligence systems tailored for small and mid-sized enterprises. Developed to leverage common business software systems and open technologies, iQ for Business frees non-technical users to do their own data-mining, analysis and reporting without relying on IT staff or proprietary applications. A web-based platform, iQ for Business can be accessed via any device – desktop, laptop or mobile – with nothing more than a web browser. Founded in 2008, iQ for Business is headquartered in San Diego, California, and maintains European and Asia-Pacific regional offices in Germany and New Zealand. For more information, contact iQ for Business at tel: +1 (858) 565-4238, email: info@iqforbusiness.com, web: www.iqforbusiness.com

Its unique design enables physicians to customize the radiation dose to the lumpectomy cavity and patient specific anatomy. This selective radiation delivery reduces exposure of healthy tissue resulting in a lower toxicity profile. The SAVI applicator allows physicians to treat patients who otherwise would have been eliminated as candidates for breast brachytherapy.

The company was formed in 2007 and from inception; CFO Hugh Neuharth knew the company needed a Business Intelligence software application to maximize the company’s chances of success at start up.“ROI is hard to quantify,“ said Neuharth. “Yes, iQ for Business has helped us proactively work with our customers, enabling our Account Managers to identify trends in real time and respond quickly, but it is hard to put a number to improved customer service and the impact on customer satisfaction and retention. We just know that the solution has paid for itself many times over.”

“Having been a long time BI user, I knew the benefits. I’d actually implemented iQ for Business at another company called C&C Vision in 2003,” Neuharth explains. “The company’s ERP software at that time was a program called Expandable, which is pretty germane to the technology and life science industry.”

Four years later, Cianna Medical is still using iQ for Business and credits the company’s rapid implementation process, flexible and responsive consultants and timely updates for his long-term commitment to the Business Intelligence software.

“At Cianna, we use Great Plains. The iQ for Business people partnered with us to develop a sales analysis solution for Great Plains – they contributed their excellent BI technical team and we brought knowledge of Great Plains and its database table structure.”

Cianna Medical participated in a new Customer Case Study which outlined their projections for iQ for Business’s ROI goals.

In addition to sales analysis and reporting needs, Cianna Medical is now poised to use iQ for Business as a spending analysis tool. “With the latest product release, we are excited to extend the software uses into another area within the company.”

iQ for Business is an international Business Intelligence software company with over 300 clients world-wide and offices in the United States, APAC and Europe. For more information, please visit our website at www.iq4bis.com ]]> http://www.iqforbusiness.com/cianna-medical-and-iq-for-business-four-years-later%e2%80%a6/feed/ 0 http://www.iqforbusiness.com/itex/ http://www.iqforbusiness.com/itex/#comments Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:46:47 +0000 king.pui http://www.iq4bis.com/?p=2289 [read more]]]> This year’s hugely successful conference was an opportunity for the IT business community to share and discuss the ever-changing challenges facing the industry. ITEX was attended by 350 people to learn how to stay on top of developments and hear about what has and hasn’t worked.

iQ4Bis contributed to the day with a product demonstration – with a twist! Delegates competed in a game show style event, scoring points using the Analysis system after only 5 minutes of training. Forty people participated and got to experience the system’s simplicity first hand – most participants answered all the questions correctly, even after such a short training. Our involvement with ITEX couldn’t have been possible without support from our valued clients, Sheppards Industries, Hansells, Mitre 10 and Frucor.

The following are some of the pictures that were taken in ITEX

Interesting to note that one of the main themes of the day was that the things people are starting to demand from their BI systems are the very features that have set iQ4Bis apart from the rest for more than 10 years.

The following are some of the pictures that were taken at the Microsoft Big Picture Event

Major was excited to see our “advancements in product development, sales and marketing”, and made special mention of the way our team functioned. “What impressed me the most about my visit though, was the cohesion within the team and the use of a great model with regards to accountability,” said Major.

He noted that the New Zealand team took ownership of our own successes and failures, rather than resorting to blame or excuses, and upheld us as a model for the other offices to follow.

IT Jungle readers may remember iQ for Business as the BI company that puts the entire user manual for its OLAP (online analytical processing) reporting tool on a mouse pad. All that a user needed to know, the company famously said, was how to manipulate a mouse, drag and drop, and right click.

Of course, running a sophisticated analytical environment is never so simple. But it’s worth noting…

Click here to read more about it.

Click here to view the review http://www.comparebi.com/vendor-reviews/page/2

Join us for this 45 minute webinar and learn how you can:

• Easily combine your ERP or CRM data with other disparate systems…
• Make your Oracle data available on Sharepoint…
• Create a self service platform for reporting and analysis…
• Clean your data to create 100% accurate querys…
• Have it all implemented in less than two weeks for a price that won’t break the bank!

*This webinar applies to JD Edwards, Oracle & PeopleSoft*

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/255453521

	The big event is the Q2 release of iQ4bis Analysis 6.0,” says Smith, General Manager of iQ4bis. “6.0 will be a quantum leap for us as we have rewritten the code from the ground up to incorporate the very latest technology. It is able to allow business users to use it in all decision making process where; at the same time, it is also able to improve the accuracy and consistency of the decision making process. From the end-user point-of-view, iQ4bis 6.0 will be faster, easier to configure and more powerful. 6.0 will run on a variety of platforms including Microsoft Windows, Linux, iOS, and Symbian with support for all major browsers. What this means is that users will be able to access iQ4bis – and by extension almost any corporate information with proper authentication and security – from almost any device including smartphones, tablets and netbooks.” Watch this space for news as it develops.

  ]]> http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-analysis-v6-release/feed/ 1 http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-down-trader-view/ http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-down-trader-view/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:47:36 +0000 king.pui http://www.iq4bis.com/?p=1071 [read more]]]>

	Any shop-keeper or small business owner knows exactly which customers buy which products. But for larger organisations with thousands of customers and tens of thousands of transactions every day, individual customers can get lost in the crowd. Successful companies are the ones who can retain a ‘personal view’ of customers and individual transactions.
	They have the facts at their fingertips. Which customers have decreased their purchases over the last three months? Which ones have increased? Which brand is underperforming at which branch? And how has your advertising campaign for Brand Y affected sales in your different outlets?
	You can identify these trends by spending days crunching your sales records. Or you can see them immediately with the iQ4bis ‘Down Trader’ View. “Trend View provides another window into your sales data,” says Manu Ikkala, iQ4bis Senior BI consultant. “You already have all of the information – they are all standard fields in most ERP solutions – so all we have to do is identify the exact data sets that you want to monitor and define the time frames. You can change how you sort the customers – descending to see the best performers at the top or ascending to identify the customers that need some personal attention. And, of course, as you uncover the trends you can drill down into that particular customer or brand to see the underlying data.”
	Successful businesses are the ones that can react quickly as market dynamics change. “With Down Trader View,” says Brian Gray, one of the key senior consultants of iQ4bis, “you can quickly identify which accounts have changed their engagement with you. If a good customer has tailed off, you’ll be able to see exactly when and by how much. Then you can investigate further to find out why and, more importantly, bring them back on board. If you don’t have a handle on you customer’s behaviour, you might not notice until it is too late. Good customers are the bread and butter of most organisations and Down Trader View gives you the ability to more tightly manage your relationship with your best clients.”
	For further information on Down Trader View and other application-specific views, email Brian Gray and he’ll be happy to discuss your particular requirements.

  ]]> http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-down-trader-view/feed/ 1 http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-inventory-analysis/ http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-inventory-analysis/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:46:42 +0000 Sage http://www.iq4bis.com/?p=1090 [read more]]]>  

	How do you reduce your inventories without impacting sales, deliveries or services? Have a direct positive impact on your bottom line, but able to cut inventories without affecting customer services?
	One tactic finding increasing resonance with smart companies is making more informed decisions by accurately predict buying patterns by branch, by product type and by season. You have the information – within your systems and ERP solutions – to make those decisions, but the challenge is to correlate the key metrics to produce actionable business intelligence.
	This is an area where iQ4bis can add value to your operation. “You can’t afford to guess when it comes to stock levels,” says Brian Gray, Solution Specialist & Consultant for iQ4bis. “iQ4bis gives you solid information on which to base your buying decisions. You’ll be able to see, at a glance, how different SKUs have performed over time. You can drill down to see which sizes or colours move faster or which products sell better in which branches. And when you add advertising initiatives and in-store promotions into the mix you’ll be able to accurately predict the impact on inventory. Inventory Analysis gives you complete visibility into your entire operation with just a few clicks of the mouse.”
	“With iQ4bis we were able to develop a process where we could track the age and location of our entire inventory and match inventory holdings with customer demand. Within months of initiating the programme we were able to bring our inventories down by $2 million without any reduction in delivery or service. We couldn’t have done it without iQ4bis.” Garry Vistarini, chief financial officer of RMD Metals. Read the whole story here:here.
	The team at iQ4bis has developed a number of business templates each designed to improve productivity. “In addition to inventory, we have ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions for sales, finance, KPIs (key performance indicators), accounts receivable and more,” says Gray. “They all link directly to your ERP, CRM or finance solutions and give you ‘one version of the truth’ across your organisation. Once you have the basics covered, you can expand the use of iQ4bis so that everyone – from product managers to sales team to finance – can make faster, better informed decisions.”
	For further information on managing your inventory with iQ4bis, click here.

  ]]> http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-inventory-analysis/feed/ 1 http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-team-manu-ikkala/ http://www.iqforbusiness.com/newsletter-team-manu-ikkala/#comments Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:43:49 +0000 Sage http://www.iq4bis.com/?p=1100 [read more]]]>  

	Successful BI implementations are the result of good processes, good data, good software and, most importantly, good people, on both the client side and with the vendor. Manu Ikkala, one of the senior consultants in iQ4bis with more than 30 years of experiences, understands the complexity of BI where he is able to provide successful solutions. “Getting the basics right is easy,” says Manu. “Most organisations have plenty of data, well-structured, complete and accurate. At iQ4bis, we simply map the relationships between the data, build the necessary framework to structure the data and then customise the various views for each particular user group. We’ve been doing this for years and it is second nature to us. But every once in a while a customer asks for something different or unusual; we enjoy these challenges as they allow us to push the technology to achieve the required outcomes. And, typically, we include these new procedures into our standard offerings.” “The team from iQ4bis are amazing. Manu Ikkala, one of their lead senior BI consultants, never says no. We ask him to do something different or add an enhancement and he does it quickly. In fact we have subscribed to the iQ4bis Professional Services Programme which provides four days a month of service work.” Earl Gasparich, CFO for Enviro Waste Manu is responsible for ensuring standard implementations are delivered on time and to budget. In addition, he helps customers with any special tasks or views that they may require. “I enjoy working with organisations from every market,” he says. “Each time we deliver a solution we create additional routines and procedures that we can then apply to our client base. It is always quite satisfying to see the positive reaction and the big smile on the customer’s face when we show them our handiwork.” Manu takes immense pride in his work and that translates into successful implementations, rapid return on investment and quantifiable benefits for customers.

One provision of the federal food safety law requires that all players in the country’s food supply chain be able to quickly trace from whom they received a food product and to whom they sent it. Many food manufacturers and distributors have taken the first step in creating an environment of transparency and traceability. Many have adopted sophisticated systems to track vendor activity and to log mountains of data with regard to inventory levels and movement.

The rise and adoption of ERP systems have enabled even small companies with the ability to create databases full of information regarding millions of transactions that take place each day. The inherent challenge arises by design: these systems were designed to log data not report on it.

Most companies rely heavily on an already thin IT staff to access and provide critical information. This creates a recipe for trouble. Imagine the FDA at your door looking for information and you are having to wait hours or even days to uncover where your shipments came from, when they arrived and where those batches or lots went.

iQ4bis provides self service and ad hoc reporting tools that can be learned in minutes with no formal training. Below are three ways iQ4bis can dramatically eliminate risk from a food and beverage company.

1. Ad Hoc analytics

One part of what iQ4bis actually delivers is called an OLAP cube. A cube is essentially a way to organize data to enable for lightning fast ad hoc queries. It allows a user to slice and dice information in ways that may be unanticipated.

For example, you may not know in advanced that you need to view all of your tomato vendors based in Sonoma County that you processed in a facility in Los Angeles County, but sold to a distributor in Phoenix where the goods were delivered in the month of December. And perhaps once you get that report you would like to see all the shift managers who received these shipments.

Requesting that level of a report even within a single database, would potentially take days to produce using typical report writing software. With OLAP based reporting, you can ask and answer your own questions on the fly.

2. Combines multiple systems

Most companies today have taken what is called a “Systems-Oriented-Architecture” approach to their information systems. That is they have numerous unrelated systems designed specifically for different processes within their business. They have a GL system for accounting, time keeping systems, tools specific to manage the warehouse, separate tools that work with managing vendors, HR systems, etc. When traceability begins to involve multiple unrelated systems, the wait becomes exponentially longer.

iQ4bis makes it easy to report and analyze data from multiple unrelated systems. You can easily roll up information from all of your corporate assets into a single location.

3. Simple user interface

Many reporting and analytics solutions were designed for “power users” where a complete understanding of the database is required to use it. While these tools may work for 3% of the business, the remaining 97% of users, including most senior level managers and executives, are stuck in an information blackhole.

iQ4bis user interface was designed with casual end users in mind. (If you have seen us at a tradeshow you may already know, we print our user manual on a mousepad!) Our software takes only 2 minutes to learn and is easy enough anyone can use it.

These are just three ways iQ4bis can help your business comply with the new regulation. If you have any questions or are interested in scheduling a brief web based demonstration please contact us today!

iQ4bis provides a free proof of concept where we will use your actual data for a demonstration and can be delivered in under 72 hours!

Read case studies of iQ4bis Food and Beverage Companies:

Bell Tea

Burger King

EA Sween

Nellson Nutraceutical

Old Fashioned Foods