mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

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Business Intelligence

6 warning signs that you need better Business Intelligence

EducationSummary: Every day, businesses suffer from the effects of bad or outdated Business Intelligence. These outdated BI tools/practices waste precious time, harm decision-making, and keep these companies from truly taking advantage of their data. Fortunately, bad BI tools/processes display many warning signs. These warning signs will help alert you to a problem, and keep that problem from spiraling out of control. Do you notice any of these warning signs in your business?

5 problems that create “Unintelligent” Business Intelligence

EducationSummary: Many businesses adopt Business Intelligence solutions with high expectations–only to be disappointed with the results. While many blame the problem on faulty software, the reality is, a successful BI project relies on a number of important factors. In this article, we explore 5 such factors that commonly hold back BI implementations.

Self-Service Business Intelligence 101: Understanding the Basics

EducationSummary: As data volumes explode, more and more businesses are realizing that traditional BI practices are less effective. We’re seeing a shift in Business Intelligence–away from an IT-driven process towards a self-service approach. But, while the need for self-service BI is growing, it’s still surrounded by a fair amount of confusion. The concept of “self-service BI” means widely different things to different people. In this article, we explain the basics of self-service, and the pros/cons it delivers to businesses.

The BI Roadmap (Part III): How to choose BI software

EducationSummary: Despite the growing need for analytics, most BI projects still fail. Why? In the first two parts of our BI Roadmap Series, we learned a few reasons why BI projects fail, and a few steps you can take to limit your risk. In this article, you’ll take the next step–exploring the key features and capabilities you need in BI software.

7 big questions that BI can help you answer

EducationSummary: We’ve all heard the generic BI benefits: BI improves decision making. It puts data at your fingertips. It helps you answer critical business questions. Those are all great, but…how will it help your company? What specific questions can it help you answer? While the answer varies by company, here are 7 common questions that BI can help your business answer.

New charting now available in m-Power

AnnouncementI’m happy to announce that m-Power’s reporting and Business Intelligence (BI) capabilities just received a major boost! We just released an update that includes much improved graphing and charting capabilities, and I think you’ll love it.

Now, you’ll still find all of the charting features you’ve come to expect out of m-Power, like chart drill-downs, tooltips, mobile charting capabilities, etc… We didn’t remove any existing features. We did, however, add some new capabilities that will help you create better web applications with m-Power. For instance, m-Power users can now:

9 most common Business Intelligence misconceptions

EducationGartner recently predicted that Business Intelligence (BI) and Analytics will remain a top focus for CIOs through 2017. As the benefits of a data-driven decision-making process become more evident, we’ll see most businesses adopt a BI strategy in one form or another over the next few years.

The only problem: Many businesses still don’t quite understand BI. They have a general idea, but the concept remains clouded in misconceptions. These misconceptions keep many businesses from adopting BI, or from taking full advantage of its potential.

Today, I’d like to address these misconceptions, and explain why they’re false. So, what are the biggest areas of confusion surrounding BI? While the list could be much larger, here are 9 of the most common BI misconceptions: