Today fundraisers have access to more data than ever before. Yet the explosion of data has not always helped key staff make sense of it all....

New data discovery and data analysis tools are making it really easy for human resources professionals to get a firm grip on their organizations and intercept staff issues much more easily than ever before....

New, end-user focused data discovery and data analysis tools are making it easy for higher education professionals to quickly build predictive models on their own – – without help from other outside experts....

COA, a major medical clinic in the Southwest U.S., was challenged a year ago when they learned that one of their payers was giving an exclusive contract for oncology to another provider......The practice administrator at COA was tasked with quickly sorting out these issues. COA is a multi-site clinic with fifteen providers but does not have a large IT team or dedicated business analysts using data visualization tools....

New data discovery and data analysis tools are making it very easy for healthcare professionals to analyze their data and understand causation and patterns within it that lead them to better operating decisions....

Consumer marketing is being greatly enabled by new data discovery and data analysis tools which make it easy for marketers to do this kind of analysis and discovery....

Agile BI tools are all about empowering faster turnaround on BI projects, with the ability for end-users to access critical information anywhere any time. Research shows that the most successful implementations involve a highly collaborative process between end-users and IT.

Agile BI is making it easier for business end-users to lever their core information assets easily.  This is empowerment, and part of the move to distribute autonomous access to information. It has also been called the information democracy, or the information buffet. RSS feed

Until recently, Sudbury had not been able to acquire such data in a timely manner. In fact, their only option was to wait for Cancer Care Ontario to provide access to their data portal – a process that takes up to two months, making it impractical as a daily management tool. Sudbury investigated using currently available Data Visualization Tools, but they required significant application development.....

The key thrust of Agile BI is clearly enabling end-users to work with their core information assets in ways never before possible. A well-implemented agile BI system allows business people to access/slice and dice/muck around in data in ways never before possible from wherever they happen to be and whenever they need to do it. RSS feed

Agile BI is a widely discussed topic that encompasses two distinct areas. The first is the development of BI systems in a quicker, faster and more iterative manner. The second area is deploying and leveraging new technologies to enable end-users to analyze and work with their business data in ways never before possible. RSS feed

There are two sides to Agile BI – – quicker and faster development of BI solutions, and leveraging new technologies to empower end-users to do their work in new and better ways.RSS feed

Creating an effective Agile BI strategy is not about technology. Rather, it's all about the business end-users. The goal is not to replicate the current reporting and information systems, but rather to do something profoundly new and different that enables the end-users to make better and faster decisions

The idea behind predictive analytics tools is to use mathematical algorithms to find patterns and trends in data.  From those patterns and trends, information is gleaned that helps business managers understand causal factors that are driving behaviors in their business. In addition, the models created by predictive analytics tools can be used to “score” or “predict” a set of data to determine others that might fit into the same behavior pattern in the future. 

One of the hottest topics in business intelligence recently has been Predictive Analytics. Properly used, predictive analytics tools can quickly identify factors behind trends in segmented behavior and data, and that information can be used to create a better understanding of the business situation as well as to score or "predict" future behavior or to identify other entities who might be expected to have the same behavior that others have already exhibited.

Analyst/X Office by ADVIZOR Solutions Inc. is a Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista, 7) client-based solution that enables users to visually analyze desktop and enterprise data. Users can create customized dashboards and export findings to Microsoft Office and Adobe PDF products. Analyst/X Office is ideal for performing interactive analysis on all types of data to drive fact-based decision making. 

As Business Intelligence (BI) moves towards the masses, two popular forces are colliding to create a lot of energy and excitement: Predictive Analytics, and Agile BI. 

There has been a lot of recent writing and talk about the advent of agile BI. The basic idea is that business people can access their BI systems from anywhere at any time to make quick, fact-based decisions on-the-fly.

There are three core components to Agile BI.... 

Gartner, one of the leading technology consulting and analyst companies, has been increasingly discussing interactive data visualization as a key enabling technology for widespread use and penetration of business intelligence into business communities.... 

A recent TDWI report highlighted the combination of visual reporting and visual analysis as a key new trend in business intelligence.  A copy of the full report is available by clicking here: TDWI Report: Visual Analysis and Reporting. Seeing is Knowing (2011) 

The topic “Agile Business Intelligence” (“Agile BI”) is picking up momentum with industry analysts and the trade press. More and more we read about BI being available to every-day business users, not just a handful of key staff in IT or who are core business analysts. This new paradigm is enabling more people to make better and faster decisions on their own, without relying on other experts to prepare or interpret their data. 

The key idea behind predictive analytics is to use mathematical modeling to find factors that make one set of data different than another, and then to use those factors to “score” or “predict” other members (people, products, events, etc.) that have the same characteristics of and hence be expected to have the same behavior as the selected target. 

In the past business managers have often farmed out predictive analytics work to outside consultants because that work required special expertise in statistical analysis or advanced analytics. With new data discovery and analysis tools which leverage combinations of in-memory data management, interactive visualization, and predictive analytics, managers and business analysts can now do this work on their own without relying on such outside experts. The result is much faster and better decisions. Better, because the in-house team knows the data and can interpret the results much better than outside experts who may know how to run a statistical model, but don't really know the nuances of the business data and operations. 

Visual analysis is getting widespread recognition as one of the key new software tools that are enabling business people to do data exploration and discovery on their own, without relying on outside experts to query databases or to perform complex analysis. 

New technologies enable every-day business managers to perform data analysis

In the past, data analysis was relegated to high paid specialists with skills like statistical analysis or database query. Today that is no longer the case. 

New technologies built on in-memory data management, interactive visualization, and plug-and-play predictive modeling are enabling every-day business managers to escape a "cycle of pain".  Instead, business managers and analysts can now work in a collaborative manner where they can make "speed of thought” decisions from their business data. 

SalesAdvizor is easy to install and use and application to SalesForce.com crm that makes it easy to perform adhoc reporting, analysis, and to create subset lists for action and follow up. 

SalesForce.com crm makes it really easy to record, track, and report on your sales pipeline. However, it is not rich in analysis capability nor is it easy to slice and dice an opportunity list as is often required. SalesAdvisor is a quick and easy to install application that loads data from Sales Force CRM and through a powerful interactive data visualization interface makes it very easy to analyze and slice and dice your opportunity list anyway that you like. 

Interactive data visualization is a great way for every-day business people to find outliers in their data.

Since visualization uses color, size, shape, and layout to display data it is ideal for finding and isolating outliers. Once found, the interactivity allows business people to easily drill in and understand the characteristics of that group of outliers. 

Next generation predictive analytics tools that integrate with in-memory data management and interactive data visualization have made it very easy for fundraisers to model their current donors and then score and rank non-donor prospects that have high potential. Until recently, this type of modeling required either the use of outside consultants or staff with experience in statistics and complex modeling tools. Today, that is no longer the case. 

Recent advances in business intelligence technology have enabled data analysis tools to be used by every- day business people. Unlike the past, today's data analysis tools install quickly, provide "speed of thought" discovery and analysis, and require no statistical or database training.

Very quickly, using cutting-edge data visualization tools, the business analyst can determine which appeals are working well, and with which groups of prospects. Those appeals can be repeated and extended to other similar prospect groups, and unsuccessful appeals can be restructured or possibly just terminated.

Interactive Data Visualization is an extremely effective way for businesspeople to slice-and-dice, and analyze data

The combination of in-memory data management and interactive visualization enables individual analysts to do easy visual analysis across a variety of different types of lists. By quickly slicing and dicing to get to what they want, and analyzing results, they are able to make better, faster, and more informed selections and decisions.

As data gets wider (or richer), it can become difficult for the end-user to factor out and determine what really matters.  This is where predictive analytics comes in.

ADVIZOR Solutions has embedded predictive analytics into its in-memory and interactive data visualization platform, which includes a rich multivariate regression analysis.  This technology provides users with a simple point-and-click interface with which they can build and execute models.  

Visual analysis occurs when an individual sees information presented in a data visualization and is able to click and select on what he or she sees..... drilling into the data and getting answers.

Visual analysis and discovery tools are changing today’s business intelligence landscape. With in- memory and interactive data visualization-based tools, business people are able gain instant access to all available data in a highly visual manner that enables them to explore and slice-and-dice it at will. This process is "speed of thought" and is highly collaborative. A couple of people can literally sit in a room for 10 or 15 minutes, work through the data various ways and quickly come to decisions which they understand and agree on. 

Interactive data visualization is a terrific tool to help individual analysts manage lists.

Interactive data visualization means that the business person can select, using his or her mouse, items and patterns of interest. When those visual selections are made, the underlying in–memory data is tagged and updated, and all charts and reports throughout the interactive data visualization project are instantly updated. Interactive data visualization makes it very easy for an end-user business analyst or manager to examine, query, and drill in on their data simply and quickly in a way that is not possible with other query and analysis approaches 

Visual analysis tools enable business people to explore data in an unfettered and truly ad-hoc manner where they can examine what they see and are able to understand the stories hidden within the data. Then, as insight and understanding comes, they can quickly move from high-level portfolio views to low-level detail and take action 

Data visualization tools transform business information into patterns and trends that people can quickly see and understand.

Effective Data Visualization Tools use color, shape, size and layout to highlight trends and patterns to make it very easy for people to understand the underlying stories and implications in their business.  Human beings have a keen sense of visual perception and can see patterns, trends and stories in data when it is presented visually.  Often it is impossible to get to this point in simple tabular and report format views 

A picture is truly worth a thousand words when it comes to information, and that is why data
visualization is a key component of any successfully utilized business intelligence system. 

The ADVIZOR Solutions Webinar Forum - A place to interact and Discover.... 

As we continue to pick-up speed on our journey down the information super highway, more and more
businesses are voicing their concerns that amidst the promise of CRM, data warehouses, predictive
analytics, and executive dashboards the reality may be much less than they have been hoping for. 

OfficeAdvizor™ software offers the benefits of high performance Data Analysis to individual users