Successful Business Intelligence, 2nd Edition: Unlock the Value of BI & Big Data

Revised to cover new advances in business intelligence―big data, cloud, mobile, and more―this fully updated bestseller reveals the latest techniques to exploit BI for the highest ROI.

“Cindi has created, with her typical attention to details that matter, a contemporary forward-looking guide that organizations could use to evaluate existing or create a foundation for evolving business intelligence / analytics programs. The book touches on strategy, value, people, process, and technology, all of which must be considered for program success. Among other topics, the data, data warehousing, and ROI comments were spot on. The ‘technobabble’ chapter was brilliant!” ―Bill Frank, Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Program Manager, Johnson & Johnson

“If you want to be an analytical competitor, you’ve got to go well beyond business intelligence technology. Cindi Howson has wrapped up the needed advice on technology, organization, strategy, and even culture in a neat package. It’s required reading for quantitatively oriented strategists and the technologists who support them.” ―Thomas H. Davenport, President’s Distinguished Professor, Babson College and co-author, Competing on Analytics

“Cindi has created an exceptional, authoritative description of the end-to-end business intelligence ecosystem. This is a great read for those who are just trying to better understand the business intelligence space, as well as for the seasoned BI practitioner.” ―Sully McConnell, Vice President, Business Intelligence and Information Management, Time Warner Cable

“Cindi’s book succinctly yet completely lays out what it takes to deliver BI successfully. IT and business leaders will benefit from Cindi’s deep BI experience, which she shares through helpful, real-world definitions, frameworks, examples, and stories. This is a must-read for companies engaged in – or considering – BI.” ―Barbara Wixom, PhD, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research

Expanded to cover the latest advances in business intelligence such as big data, cloud, mobile, visual data discovery, and in-memory computing, this fully updated bestseller by BI guru Cindi Howson provides cutting-edge techniques to exploit BI for maximum value. Successful Business Intelligence: Unlock the Value of BI & Big Data, Second Edition describes best practices for an effective BI strategy. Find out how to:

• Garner executive support to foster an analytic culture
• Align the BI strategy with business goals
• Develop an analytic ecosystem to exploit data warehousing, analytic appliances, and Hadoop for the right BI workload
• Continuously improve the quality, breadth, and timeliness of data
• Find the relevance of BI for everyone in the company
• Use agile development processes to deliver BI capabilities and improvements at the pace of business change
• Select the right BI tools to meet user and business needs
• Measure success in multiple ways
• Embrace innovation, promote successes and applications, and invest in training
• Monitor your evolution and maturity across various factors for impact

Exclusive industry survey data and real-world case studies from Medtronic, Macy’s, 1-800 CONTACTS, The Dow Chemical Company, Netflix, Constant Contact, and other companies show successful BI initiatives in action.

From Moneyball to Nate Silver, BI and big data have permeated our cultural, political, and economic landscape. This timely, up-to-date guide reveals how to plan and deploy an agile, state-of-the-art BI solution that links insight to action and delivers a sustained competitive advantage.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Bi And Big Data From The Business Side
Chapter 2. Technobabble: Components Of A Business Intelligence Architecture
Chapter 3. The Business Intelligence Front-End: More Than A Pretty Face
Chapter 4. Measures Of Success
Chapter 5. Catalysts For Success: The Loft Effect
Chapter 6. Executive Support And Culture
Chapter 7. The Business–It Partnership
Chapter 8. D Is For Data
Chapter 9. Relevance
Chapter 10. Agile Development
Chapter 11. Organizing For Success
Chapter 12. The Right Bi Tool For The Right User
Chapter 13. Other Secrets To Success
Chapter 14. The Future Of Business Intelligence
Appendix A: Successful BI Survey Demographics
Appendix B: Recommended Resources