Searching for the next big thing in Business Intelligence
Like most people in the IT industry, I am always looking for the next big thing in my niche. As my company does BI consulting with IBM Cognos 8, a trend I am keenly following is the evolution of the next BI platform. Clearly, SOA, SaaS and cloud computing will have an impact, and the details are slowly becoming evident. Shawn Rogers, blogging on the b-eye-network, recently wrote about three recent developments at Google that provide some insight into the future of business intelligence:
- Panorama Software announces a BI solution that integrates with Google Docs.
- SalesForce, the poster child for hosted enterprise software, announces the integration of SalesForce with Google Apps.
- Google’s Big Table, the database component of the Google App Engine, is available for storing data “in the cloud”, opening the door for application developers to leverage Google’s massive infrastructure.
While it is debatable if Google can (or even wants to) become a player in the Enterprise BI market, they are setting trends in software development and providing clues as to what future of BI software suites will look like.
YouTube Targets the Corporate User
YouTube, the darling of the Web 2.0 boom, was purchased by Google in 2006. While the YouTube front page has kept a decidedly consumer focus, Google has been working on grander plans: a YouTube API. This creates another Google platform, and with the latest update, it provides the following functionality:
- videos can be viewed from a desktop or web application
- video files can be uploaded, even from a mobile device
- comments and ratings can be applied to videos
- control over the Flash video player
So the door is now open for integration into other software products or web services. Training and marketing applications come to mind, although I am sure that we will see some even more creative uses popping up in other enterprise apps. So far, Google’s marquee customer for YouTube is Electronic Arts. Their upcoming game, Spore, will let players upload video directly from the game into YouTube. Players can also enjoy the most popular content on the Spore channel.
The official Google YouTube API page is located here, with cases studies, documentation and sample code.
The Future of Enterprise Apps: Google App Engine
Yesterday Google launched the Google App Engine, a service that lets developers deploy web applications using Google’s
infrastructure. This is Google’s foray into cloud computing, and the service competes directly with Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
Why is this the future? Because developers no longer have to be as concerned with the infrastructure that supports the application. This is a huge step forward, as their focus can be on the application and business logic, rather than coding around potential network problems or other performance issues.
Certainly it will be some time before this model is widely adopted, as the current services have some severe limitations. For example, Google only supports Python, Amazon EC2 is Linux based. However, as the services mature, they will become the next logical steps for enterprise software developers looking to capitalize on the advantages of the software as a service (SaaS) or utility computing model.
Copy-Paste in Google Apps with Firefox
By default, the Firefox browser limits the use of the clipboard. This is a real inconvenience when using Google Docs (imagine using Microsoft Word or Excel without being able to cut and paste with the context menu). Yes, the keyboard shortcuts work, but these are not always practical. Fortunately, there is a solution, which I found here. I was able to apply it on my Windows Vista laptop with an extra step to get around the security on the application directory.
1. Type cmd in the Vista “Start Search” box.
2. Press CTRL-SHIFT-Enter to open up a command prompt as Administrator. Vista UAC will prompt for permission to open up the command line in administrator mode.
3. Navigate (cd) to C:\users\[username]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[profile name] You might not recognize the profile name.
4. Open the user.js file. It might not be there, because by default, the user.js file does not exist. Create it by typing this command: notepad user.js Answer yes to the prompt to create the file.
5. Paste the following lines into the file:
user_pref(”capability.policy.policynames”, “allowclipboard”);
user_pref(”capability.policy.allowclipboard.sites”, “http://docs.google.com”);
user_pref(”capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.cutcopy”, “allAccess”);
user_pref(”capability.policy.allowclipboard.Clipboard.paste”, “allAccess”);
6. Save the file and close notepad.
7. Exit the command line prompt and restart Firefox.
Now you will be able to cut, copy and paste from the right-click context menu in Google Docs. Unfortunately, this still does not work for image files.
Google Sites versus Sharepoint
Google Sites, after Gmail, is the strongest part of the Google Apps solution. On a feature by feature comparison, Google docs and spreadsheets pale in comparison to Microsoft Word and Excel (although the simplicity can be a benefit for some organizations). Google Sites, however, looks like it will be able to stand it’s ground against Sharepoint, at least from a user or business perspective. While some of the back-end developer pieces are missing, the features that business users are really interested in are all there. It is this piece of the Google Apps suite that will make it a serious competitor for Microsoft’s corporate customers. The proof is Microsoft’s announcement of a new line of managed services, a business which they are no longer leaving exclusively to their partners.
Google Apps… Google’s Microsoft Office killer?
With the recent announcement of Google Sites, which is the result of the integration of JotSpot into the Google Apps ecosystem, the Google solution is becoming an even more enticing replacement for Microsoft Office. Besides the regular concerns around hosted apps, (many are discussed in this article), I would break down the pros and cons of Google Apps like this:
Pros:
- Cross-platform - As long as the user has a browser, or even a browser on a mobile device, Google Apps is accessible. The operating system becomes irrelevant.
- No server hardware required - It’s all hosted on Google’s servers. While there is plenty of speculation about Google’s data centers, it would be tough to argue that they do not have the infrastructure to host this service reliably.
- No client install - It’s all contained in the browser.
- Lower licensing cost - Free, or $50 a year for the premier edition.
- Simplified functionality - Reduces training costs and adoption risk.
Cons:
- IT knowledge still required - An arguable point, but for the initial setup and for any data migration, the advice of an IT professional will likely be necessary.
- Unproven support model - Microsoft has an extensive network of global partners, as well as their own professional services and support organizations. Google offers phone support for paying customers, but the list of partners who can support the solution locally is still quite limited.
- Exporting to other formats - Microsoft Word is the de facto document format in many organizations. How well can Google docs export to the current Word format? Or pdf, another standard document format? This becomes critical when dealing with other companies or the government, who expect their standards to be adhered to.
- Printing and page layout - It is improving, but printing remains problematic. While the greener, web 2.0 world can do without paper, the corporate world still relies heavily on it.
- Integration - How can documents and spreadsheets on one of Google’s servers become part of a work-flow that is inside the firewall? What about integration with existing legacy systems and Office automation?
With a growing list of partners and some interesting future functionality, some of these cons will become irrelevant for enterprise customers. Google has a very strong brand, which has already attracted some high profile partners, and anything Google does receives a fair amount of business press coverage. Certainly for the SMB market, where the cost and risk of migrating away from Microsoft Office is much lower, Google has a very attractive solution.