The Next Generation of BIHow will it impact you?Mark MadsenOctober 13, 2010www.ThirdNature.net
The world is changingThe world is changing
Always available
Always‐on
Everywhere
Interactive
Real‐time
How organizations and individuals interact is changing as well.
Welcome to the future of BI
Is it so much different today?
Delivering information visually is not so new
Some visualization books, 90‐100 years old
Change is the Only Constant
This was your father’s Oldsmobile:
Computerized innovation
Greenbar!
Change is the Only Constant
Personal computerized innovation: Greenbar…
on a screen!
aka, your Oldsmobile
Change is the Only Constant
The latest Oldsmobile:
Greenbar, on a screen…
in a browser!
Look how far we’ve come.
Change is the Only Constant
Let’s put it on a mobile phone!
Innovation through reapplication of the same idea eventually fails to pay off because accumulated differences in context are meaningful.
Commoditization!
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in
their home.”Ken Olson, CEO of DEC, 1977
“…by 2008 we will be producing one billion transistors for every
man, woman and child on earth”Semiconductor Industry Association, 2007 Meet your new
data warehouse
The consumerization of IT means innovation from the outside, just like the 1980s.
Unexpected Consequences of Data Volumes
Unexpected Consequences of Data Volumes
This and commodity pressure are the real business drivers for more advanced analysis techniques.
Clustering + Visualization + Query = Explanation
Mountains of data hiding signal, new UI expectations and cheap cycles mean new visual interfaces are both possible and expected.
Reality check: what’s the user experience here?
What does usability focus on?
We moved this button to the right because it’s used most often!
Reality, meet expectation.
“When technology delivers basic needs, user experience dominates”
Don Norman
“Better experiences, not more features.”Roland Rust
The problem:
The product is designed under the expectation that it’s an important part of people’s work.
The reality is that most users spend less than 15 minutes per day using a BI tool, and more people don’t use one at all.
Key design assumptions are wrong, and that it is the real reason for the failure of self‐service BI.
Example: What’s the most common BI activity?
How Does BI Address Findability?
Taxonomies
aka
Categories
implemented as
Folders
Architecture of Participation, giving gets
Where are my report folders?
Social architectures in web 2.0 are changing our software like mobile phones changed the telephone industry.
Web 1.0
Web 2.0
The invisible Crowd
BI products are still rooted in timesharing design models
Findability and collaborative / interaction features are the most important and most ignored aspects of the BI environment.They are not bolt‐on features.
Technology frames for BI
BI as reports
BI as ad‐hoc query
BI as power tools for analysis
BI as support for another analytical process
BI as exploratory tools
BI as a domain application
BI as alerting and exception detection
BI as information delivery (small data in context)
Many tools, not one. Use is dependent on the scenario.
These do not take the larger picture of collaboration and interaction into account.
New BI design point: context and point of useInformation use is diverse and varies based on context:▪ Get a quick answer▪ Solve a one-off problem▪ Make repetitive decisions▪ Use data in routine
processes▪ Make complex decisions▪ Choose a course of action▪ Convince others to take
action
BI standardization is for IT, not for the end user.
What’s Happening in the BI Industry?
The big stack / app vendors bought the top end of the market.
Very little innovative work has been done since then, nor was there much from these vendors for several years prior to acquisition.
BI Tools Also Need New Capabilities
Embedding BI within applications▪ UI embedding
▪ Full embedding
Event‐based integration
Feeding BI data to applications: services, not SQL, may be desired
Custom UI code may be preferable to a BI tool
Two BI usage models, one causes problems
Demand driven• Users ask for current data• Most BI tools work this way• Harder to adapt these tools to
event-driven models
Event driven• System takes action based on
data, e.g. alerts, rule engines• May not have (or need) an end
user interface• Need understanding of decision
& action process for this model
Different Data and Usage Patterns
Be prepared for changed assumptions regarding BI:
• Strategy and practices change more frequently, particularly in marketing.
• This means data sources change frequently, as well as information needs.
• Much newer data use is like experimental science, and unlike the read‐only BI usage model.
Old styleStandardized tool, 1 size
Kitchen sink
Big central applications
Controlled process
Force users
New styleMany tools, custom fit
Specific functions
Big central platform, small distributed applications
Get out of the way
Attract users
Slide 34Third Nature, January 2008 Mark Madsen
Focus on the important features
BI is a mature market. Beware of feature creep.
Number of Product Features
Use
r Pro
duct
ivty
& H
appi
ness
Use
r Pro
duct
ivty
& H
appi
ness
It’s ok but kinda limited
Yay, they finally added a feature I need!
This tool is great!
I’m kicking ass! Where’s the manual?
Despair
Why can’t I find that transform option?
I can’t believe this *@%! cost a million
dollars.
And now for something completely different
Slide 36March 2009 Mark R. Madsen
Creative CommonsThanks to the people who made their images available via creative commons:anne hathaway.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/barbaradoduk/177959197/ laptop face.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/sd/7746599/teapot.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/joi/411403/Girl on phone - http://flickr.com/photos/8024992@N06/986538717/motionless in crowd.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/cactusmelba/1065738186/well town hall - http://flickr.com/photos/tuinkabouter/1135560976/cadillac ranch line.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/whatknot/179655095/febo amsterdam.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/jshyun/1573065713/sand_beach_tide2.jpg - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccgd/100703045baby birthday.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/yoshimov/19513076/ baby_with_lemon.jpg - http://flickr.com/photos/pichichi/55381094/
About the Presenter
Mark Madsen is president of Third Nature, a technology research and consulting firm focused on business intelligence, data integration and data management. Mark is an award-winning author, architect and CTO whose work has been featured in numerous industry publications. Over the past ten years Mark received awards for his work from the American Productivity & Quality Center, TDWI, and the Smithsonian Institute. He is an international speaker, a contributing editor at Intelligent Enterprise, and manages the open source channel at the Business Intelligence Network. For more information or to contact Mark, visit http://ThirdNature.net.